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GENERAL SAM HOUSTON 

Patriot and Statesman. The hero of San Jacinto, in whose honor 

the City of Houston is named 



A THUMB-NAIL 

HISTORY OF THE 

CITY OF 

HOUSTON 
TEXAS 

FROM ITS FOUNDING IN 1836 
TO THE YEAR 1912 

By DR. sVo. YOUNG 



n 




HOUSTON, TEXAS : JUNE. 1912 



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PRESS OF 

REIN & SONS COMPANY 

HOUSTON. 







A WORD IN ADVANCE. 



c 

f^ In presenting this little volume to the people of 

Houston for their consideration, I feel that a word 
of explanation is due. I wrote the book to supply 
a badly needed "need," of course, but I wrote it 
more for my own pleasure than for anything else. 
I have made no attempt at fine writing and have 
given no thought to literary excellence. My sole ob- 
ject has been to attain accuracy, and every precau- 
tion has been taken to guard against error. Where- 
ever possible I have consulted original documents 
and newspapers. Yet, in spite of this, I fear that 
some errors have crept in and that the readers will 
find many statements which they may think errone- 
ous. I say this because there are some stories and 
traditions that have been repeated so often that 
many suppose them to be true. 

If the readers derive as much pleasure from pe- 
rusing these pages as I have from writing them, I 
shall feel content. I have enjoyed writing every 
line, and add "The End" with regret. 

S. O. YOUNG. 

Houston, June 5th, 1912. 



TO THE MEMORY OF MY MOTHER 

WHOSE LIFE WAS LARGELY DEVOTED TO THE CAUSE 

OF EDUCATION AND TO THE CREATION OF A 

TASTE FOR LITERATURE AND THE SCIENCES 

IN THE MINDS OF THE EARLIER CITIZENS 

OF HOUSTON. THIS LITTLE VOLUME 

IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED 

— THE AUTHOR 



CHAPTER ONE. 

Why Houston Was Founded — When Incorporat- 
ed — First Mayor of Houston — Various Admin- 
istrations — Reconstruction Days — Huge City 
Debt — What the Commission Is Doing Today — 
Full List of Houston's Mayors. 

A fact not generally known nor appreciated is 
that Houston is the result of a disagreement between 
the Aliens and the Harrises. There was no serious 
quarrel or anything of that sort. They differed 
about land matters, with the result that the Aliens, 
instead of joining the Harrises in their efforts to 
build up the already established town of Harris- 
burg, came five miles by land and about sixteen 
miles by water further up the bayou, and laid the 
foundation for the rival town, which was destined 
to become the greatest city in Texas and one of the 
greatest in the Southwest. 

Now, as a matter of fact, there was no good rea- 
son for the new town. The location at Harrisburg 
was ideal and had many advantages, naturally, that 
Houston had to create artificially. There was, to 
begin with, sixteen miles of very crooked and hard- 
ly navigable bayou to be overcome in order to reach 
Houston, while the new site had absolutely nothing 
to compensate for this disadvantage. 

However, there was an element injected into the 
controversy that helped the Aliens wonderfully in 
carrying out their scheme. Santa Anna's soldiers 



I 



A Thumb-Nail History of 



showed up just at the critical moment and burned 
Harrisburg. Before the Harrises could recover 
from the blow, and while their town still lay in 
ashes, the Aliens acted and not only had their town 
laid out, but were actively engaged in selling town 
lots to settlers. Not much progress was made dur- 
ing the first year, however, and there was not much 
of a city in evidence and scarcely more to indicate 
where that city was to be, for Governor Frank 
Lubbock, in his memoirs, gives an amusing descrip- 
tion of his search for the town, even after he had 
reached and passed the foot of Main street. He 
came to Houston on the first steamboat that ever 
arrived here and it took four days to make the trip 
from Harrisburg to Houston. That being the pio- 
neer trip an immense amount of work had to be 
done to clear the stream of sunken logs and over- 
hanging trees. There was plenty of water, but 
there were numerous obstructions in and over the 
channel. After that first boat there was little or no 
delay and before long there were other boats that 
came to Houston, and in a year or two there was a 
regular service established between Houston and 
Galveston. 

The question of transportation was one of the 
most serious with which the early settlers had to 
contend. Transportation by land was not only dif- 
ficult, but actually dangerous, for there were hos- 
tile Indians and predatory bands of Mexicans ever 
on the watch for unwary settlers. There were no 
roads, ordinary trails being the only guides for the 



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The City of Houston, Texas 



traveller, and therefore when communication was 
established with the outside world by water from 
Houston, it was looked on as a blessing, since it 
saved many miles of difficult and dangerous travel. 
The bayou soon became popular and Houston 
sprang at once into the greatest prominence as a 
receiving and distributing point. It is remarkable 
that Houston should have had all those advantages, 
naturally, in the early da5^s and then after the lapse 
of many years she should still retain them through 
the commercial activity and business foresight of 
her citizens. 

During the first eighteen months of the new 
city's existence there was little accomplished aside 
from perfecting the plans and arranging the divi- 
sions of Houston, for there was not much more of 
a city than a name and some surveyed streets and 
lots until late in 1837. By then th town began to 
show some life and activity. It is true that the city 
was more like a military camp than anything else, 
for it was composed largely of tents, with here and 
there a small log cabin. During '1837 there was a 
large storehouse built at the corner of Commerce 
street and JNlain and at the same time work was be- 
gun on the "Mansion House," Houston's first ho- 
tel. This was located on the corner now occupied 
by the Southern Pacific offices. 

But it was not until 1838 that Houston took on 
genuine city airs. That year an election was held to 
decide whether the city should be incorporated or 
not. The result was an affirmative vote and the 



10 A Thumb-Nail History of 

same year the Texas Congress granted the City of 
Houston a charter. 

Having become a chartered city it was necessary 
to elect a mayor and board of aldermen. Unfor- 
tunately all the records of the city have been twice 
destroyed by fire, but tradition and the oldest in- 
habitants declare that Dr. Francis Moore, Jr., was 
the first mayor of Houston. Now there is really no 
good nor substantial reason for doubting that Dr. 
Moore was the first mayor, and the question is 
brought up in this way so as to give place to a doubt 
introduced by Maj. Ingham Roberts, who has made 
a close study of all that relates to the early history 
of Houston. Major Roberts, in the History of 
Southeast Texas, of which he was one of the edi- 
tors, publishes a list of Houston's mayors and gives 
the honor of being the first to James S. Holman. 
The Major gives as his authority for doing this, a 
notice published in the Telegraph of Sept. 29, 1837, 
calling an election to fill vacancies caused by the 
deaths of two aldermen, which notice was signed 
Jas. S. Holman, "Mayor." 

Major Roberts is a most careful student and ac- 
curate writer, and yet one is constrained to believe 
that a serious error has been committed by himself 
or by the paper publishing that notice. In the first 
place, Houston was not incorporated until a year 
after the date of that notice and, therefore, could 
not have had a mayor or board of aldermen. In the 
next place, James S. Holman was clerk of the Elev- 
enth District Court from February, 1837, until 



The City of Houston^ Texas 11 

1842, and it is not likely that he could have been 
mayor of Houston at the same time. As a matter 
of fact he was clerk of the court at the very time 
that notice was published, as the court records show. 
The matter is given space here so as to bring out all 
the facts for the guidance of future historians. 

When the Moore administration took office, its 
first act was to extend the city limits, which to that 
time had been the Bayou on the north. Walker street 
on the south, Bagby street on the west and Caroline 
on the east. The limits were extended so as to em- 
brace nine square miles. This was done in order 
to increase the taxable area and to include within 
the city limits many citizens who had built residences 
just beyond the old city lines. The nine-mile area 
was maintained many years, or until the city fell in 
the hands of the "Carpet-bag" Republicans ap- 
pointed by E. J. Davis during reconstruction days. 
These found it necessary, in order to create more 
plunder, to increase the taxable area, so they ex- 
tended the limits so as to embrace twenty-five 
square miles. When the Carpet-baggers were 
turned out of office by the home people who had 
regained control of affairs, the limits were reduced 
to nine square miles. That was in 1874, and until 
1903 no change was made. But by that time the 
city had so extended beyond its limits that an in- 
crease was demanded in justice and fairness to all, 
so the area was fixed at sixteen square miles. A 
remarkable feature is that since those limits were 
fixed, the city has again far outgrown its bounds. 



12 A Thumb-Nail History of 

so that a very large number, perhaps 15,000 or 
20,000 nominal citizens of Houston are living out- 
side the city limits. Aside from fixing the city 
limits and placing some pine trees across the streets, 
so that people could get across from one corner to 
another without bogging down in the mud, there 
appears to have been nothing accomplished by the 
Moore administration, or by that of G. W. Lively, 
the second mayor. It was reserved for the Charles 
Biglow administration, in 1840, to take the first 
step towards permanent public improvement. That 
year a contract was let for the erection of a market 
house and city hall on Market square. That old mar- 
ket was pointed to with pride for many years by all 
Houstonians. It was really a pretentious build- 
ing for it had length, if not height, being only one- 
story high. It extended from Preston to Congress 
and on the Congress side it was two-stories high, 
the upper floor being used as a city hall, while the 
lower one was devoted to a city jail or "calaboose" 
as it was called. 

The market part was given over to the butchers 
and vegetable people, who had stalls arranged on 
each side, while a broad alley extended down the 
entire leng-th of the market. There was no floor, 
only the bare earth serving for that purpose. The 
building soon became famous for the number of 
rats that took possession of it. Perhaps, in no part 
of the world were there ever so many rats gathered 
together in a limited space as were found in that 
old place. However, it was a great improvement on 



The City of Houston, Texas 13 

conditions that had prevailed to that time, for the 
market vendors had been forced to do business in 
the open air, or under a dilapidated shed that some 
one had erected. There was a tent, not on the 
square, however, that was used for market pur- 
poses, but that was a private affair with which the 
city had nothing to do. 

The old market house stood for many years and 
was finally torn down to make place for the famous 
market house erected by the Scanlan administra- 
tion. The story of that famous building is worth 
telling. Mr. Alexander JNIcGowan had been elected 
mayor of the city in 1867, but was turned out of 
office by E. J. Davis, the "reconstruction" Gov- 
ernor of Texas, in August, 1868. Some other 
changes were made, but it was not until 1870, that 
Davis showed his hand by turning everybody out 
of office and appointing his own henchmen. T. H. 
Scanlan was appointed mayor and four ignorant 
negroes were made aldermen by Davis. Then the 
"plundering" began in real earnest, and by the time 
they got through Houston had a debt of almost 
two million dollars and had but little or nothing to 
show for it. It was no public spirit or local pride 
that gave Houston the finest market house in the 
South. Houston got the building finally, but Hous- 
ton paid a fancy price for it. It was merely the op- 
portunity to extend the loot field that lay behind 
the market that resulted in its final construction. 

Having decided to erect a market house, plans 
were drawn, specifications made and bids were in- 



14 A Thumb-Nail History of 

vited. Col. William Brady was the successful bid- 
der at $250,000. He was backed by some New 
Yorkers. He agreed to take the city's bonds in pay- 
ment, they to bear 8 per cent interest and to run 
twenty-five years. That part of the contract was 
all right, perhaps, but after actual construction of 
the building began, things began to show up that 
were never expected. Col. Brady built according 
to the plans and specifications, but when those were 
examined it was found that they contained no pro- 
vision for blinds, some doors, and in one or two in- 
stances, for floors for the building. The whole thing 
was found to be merely an outline of plans and 
specifications, but Col. Brady claimed it was what 
he had bid on and he held the city strictly to its con- 
tract with him. 

There was only one thing to do — issue more 
bonds, and that was when the city limits were ex- 
tended, so as to take in more taxpayers. The tax 
area was increased, more bonds were issued, and be- 
fore the market house was completed its total cost 
was $470,000 instead of $250,000 as originally 
contemplated. The building was insured for $100,- 
000, but when it was burned down in 1876, the in- 
surance companies refused to pay even that, and, 
after much haggling, finally agreed to restore the 
building, which they did at an outlay of only $80,- 
000. The restored building was also destroyed by 
fire some years later, when the present magnifi- 
cent building was erected. 



The City of Houston, Texas 15 

A so-called election was held in 1872, and by im- 
porting negroes from the surrounding counties and 
obstructing the white voters, the Republicans were 
able to elect the entire city ticket and keep the same 
gang in office. Retribution was near at hand, how- 
ever, for the next year the Democrats swept the 
State and elected CokeGovernor. In January, 1874, 
Houston was granted a new charter, by provision 
of which the Governor was authorized to appoint 
the city officials of Houston. Governor Coke lost 
no time, but turned the Scanlan crowd out of of- 
fice. He then appointed Mr. Jas. T. D. Wilson, 
mayor, and also appointed a board of aldermen 
composed of respectable and prominent citizens. A 
few months later an election was held and all the 
gentlemen appointed by the Governor were regu- 
larly elected. 

There was little accomplished by the new admin- 
istration during their tenure of office. The affairs 
of the city were so badly tangled and the bonded 
and floating debts were so large that the city was 
absolutely without money or credit. Under condi- 
tions such as these it was not exj^ected that anything 
could be done beyond "standing off" clamoring 
creditors and answering court summonses, for the 
city was being constantly sued. 

After holding office for one year the Wilson ad- 
ministration retired and Mr. I. C. Lord was chosen 
as mayor in 1875. He had all that his predecessor 
had to contend with, and in addition there came up 
the question of disposing of the interest the city had 



16 A Thumb-Nail History of 

acquired, in some way, in the Houston East and 
West Texas railroad. The interest owned by the 
city was in that part of the road surveyed as far 
west as the Brazos near Bellville, but which had 
been abandoned and has never been built. There 
were suits and counter-suits and the whole question 
became very much involved. Finally the city sold 
its interest for $35,000 and went out of the railroad 
business for good. But it was a case of jumping 
out of the frying-pan into the fire, for so soon as 
it was known that the Lord administration had a 
little cash on hand the court house feature became 
aggravated and everybody was clamoring to get 
hold of it. Old notes, old and new claims, popped 
up from unexpected quarters and the situation be- 
came desperate. Mr. Lord held office for two years 
and then quit in disgust. 

Mr. Wilson having had a two years rest was per- 
suaded by the citizens to try his hand again. This 
was literally true for at that time a man had to be 
persuaded to take such an onerous office as that of 
the debt-burdened city. It required patience, hon- 
esty of purpose and fine executive and financial 
abihty to keep the affairs of the city going, even 
for a day, and those who were qualified to act were 
not anxious to do so. 

The second administration of ]Mr. Wilson result- 
ed in the establishment, or rather in the inaugura- 
tion of the movement that resulted in establishing 
the water works here. Before that time Houston 
depended entirely on underground cisterns for its 




COL. W. J. HUTCHINS 

(DECEASED) 

Prominent Citizen Banker and Merchant 

of Houston 




T. W. HOUSE SR. 

(DECEASED 

Founder of the Bank of T. W. House. A Pioneer 

and Patriot of Texas 



The City of Houston, Texas 17 

water supply, both for drinking and for fire pro- 
tection purposes. Soon after the beginning of his 
second term Mr. Wilson sent a special message to 
the council, drawing attention to the great need of 
water works. The city had no money to build such 
works, but was prepared and willing to deal most 
liberally with any private company or corporation 
that would undertake the work. Nearly a year later 
such a company was formed, and some months later, 
in August, 1879, the company actually constructed 
the first water works on the north side of the bayou 
near what was called "Stanley's brick yard," where 
they have remained ever since. The service, how- 
ever, was abominable and pleased no one. The com- 
pany built a dam across the bayou so as to shut off 
tide water and secure as pure water as possible from 
the upper bayou. It was totally unfit to drink and 
no one ever thought of using it for that purpose. 

In the early nineties it was discovered that an 
abundant supply of the purest artesian water could 
be obtained anywhere in Houston, and the water- 
works company sank several artesian wells. That 
gave Houston an abundant supply of pure drink- 
ing water. However, the stand-pipe was too small, 
or for some other reason the company claimed they 
could not supply the city with both drinking water 
and water for protection against fire, and every 
time a fire occurred they would pump bayou water 
into the reservoir, with the result that the water be- 
came unfit to drink for some time after every fire. 
The people complained, but that did no good. Fin- 
ally, in 1906, under the administration of JNIayor 



18 A Thumb-Nail History of 

Baldwin Rice, the city purchased the plant outright, 
for $901,000, and since that time there has been no 
complaint nor any reason for complaint. This is the 
only public utility owned by the city, but its record 
has been a good one, so much so as to create some- 
thing of a general desire that the city take over 
some others and run them in the interest of the peo- 
ple as the water works are now run. As one evi- 
idence of how the people have gained by the change, 
it may be said that the old company was charging 
SOc per thousand gallons for water, but the city 
at once reduced this charge to 15c, employed more 
men to add to the efficiency, and has done all this 
without the loss of a cent of the taxpayers' money. 

After serving two terms, Mr. Wilson retired and 
was succeeded by Mr. A. J. Burke. There was noth- 
ing accompHshed during this administration for the 
very good reason that nothing could be accom- 
plished. Efforts were made to compromise the huge 
city debt, but the bondholders stood firm and noth- 
ing could be done. 

When Mr. Burke's term expired, some of the 
leading men of Houston conceived a great idea. 
They determined to apply expert business methods 
and nothing else in settling the city's affairs. A 
committee, composed of the best business men of 
the city, waited on Mr. Wm. R. Baker and asked 
him to devote his superb financial ability towards 
solving the great financial problem which confront- 
ed the city. He, after some hesitation, consented to 
do so, but made it one of the conditions that he 
should name the men who were to serve as aldermen 



The City of Houston, Texas 19 

with him. This was granted and he named a num- 
ber of the leading bankers, merchants and business 
men as his staff. There was no serious opposition 
to the ticket and it was elected by practically a 
unanimous vote. 

When the city was turned over to those gentle- 
men, the bondholders became very confident. Be- 
fore that they were growing uneasy, to say the least, 
for the people were becoming desperate and every- 
body was talking about throwing up the city char- 
ter and repudiating the unjust debt that had been 
forced on the city. However, when Houston was 
placed in the hands of such prominent business men 
and great financiers, doubt and fear disappeared, 
for the bondliolders knew that these gentlemen 
could not afford to be mixed up in anything such 
as repudiating a debt, therefore they became firm 
and insistent. Already something like repudiation 
had taken place, for the citizens had held an election 
and decided that not more than 50c on the dollar 
should be paid for the bonds. This action tied the 
hands of the Baker administration, of course, and 
they could do nothing, for the bondholders would 
not accept 50c on the dollar. 

Towards the middle of the Baker administration 
a final effort was made. Mr. Wm. D. Cleveland 
and JVIr. J. Waldo, two of the aldermen, went to 
New York for a conference with the bondholders, 
who were showing an inclination to "listen to rea- 
son." After some discussion the bondholders agreed 
to compromise for 60c on the dollar and to take 



20 A Thumb-Nail History of 

forty-year bonds, a new issue. The aldermen ex- 
plained that the action of the citizens precluded 
their paying more than 50c. Then the bondholders 
made the following proposition: The compromise 
would be made ostensibly for 60c on the dollar, but 
really for 40c. A prominent Houston banker whose 
name they gave, Mr. Baker and Mr. Cleveland 
were to guarantee that the new bonds would be is- 
sued by the city and for doing this the bondholders 
would divide the difference between 40c and 60c 
with these three men and keep quiet about it. The 
aldermen returned to Houston, and ^Ir. Cleveland, 
Mayor Baker and the banker went over the propo- 
sition. Mr. Cleveland pointed out that the plan 
proposed offered the only solution of the problem 
and suggested that the three gentlemen draw up 
an agreement, together with a statement of facts, 
bj^ which the city would get all the bonds that were, 
ostensibly, set aside for themselves ; that this agree- 
ment be witnessed by reputable witnesses and lock- 
ed up securely in a safe. The bondholders had said 
they would treat the matter confidentially. Mr. 
Cleveland and Mr. Baker saw the advantage to 
the city and were anxious to close the deal, but the 
banker was afraid and dreaded adverse criticism 
and discussion by the people who would know noth- 
ing of the truth of the deal until it was all over, so 
he refused to have anything to do with it and as the 
bondholders insisted on his taking part, the thing 
fell through and Houston lost the opportunity of 
compromising her debt on the most advantageous 
conditions that were ever offered. 



The City of Houston, Texas 21 

With so many bonds out, some of them were in 
weak hands. These small holders, either willing- 
ly or unwillingly, parted with their holdings for 
about 35 cents on the dollar. The Baker adminis- 
tration was enabled to pick up a great many bonds 
in that way, but the large holders stood firm. Buy- 
ing the bonds, as INIayor Baker did, reduced the 
bonded debt, of course, but it was borrowing from 
Peter to pay Paul, for at the close of the Baker 
administration the floating debt of the city was 
about $200,000 greater than when it went in. 

Having tried expert business methods and failed, 
the people arose in their might and went to the op- 
posite extreme. They turned out the financiers 
and put Mr. D. C. Smith and what was called a 
"short hair" board of aldermen in office. The 
labor ticket was elected triumphantly, and in elect- 
ing these gentlemen, the citizens did a wise thing. 
When the news reached New York that the city 
had been turned over to the labor element there 
was consternation in the bondholders' camp. They 
could see nothing but repudiation and ruin ahead 
of them, and their greatest fear was that the debt 
might be repudiated before their agents could get 
here with offers of compromise. After some bick- 
ering, which served to delay action by the council if 
in no other way, the bondholders came to an agree- 
ment with the city by the terms of which the debt 
was compromised on a basis that permitted the city 
to make needed improvements and pay interest reg- 



22 A Thumb-Nail History of 

ularly on the reduced debt. Since that day the city 
has been free from great financial embarrassment. 

It seems strange to say in one breath that Hous- 
ton has the best and the most dangerous form of 
government that could possibly be conceived. And 
yet that is literally true. The form, as all know, 
gives almost absolute power to a few men chosen, 
not by wards as was done formerly, but by all the 
people of the city regardless of ward and sub-ward 
divisions. The advantages of this method are ap- 
parent, for the Mayor, or Chairman, and each Com- 
missioner represents the whole city and not any par- 
ticular part of it. Each is responsible to the whole 
people and not, as formerly, to that one part of it 
where he might chance to have lived and from which 
he was chosen by the votes of his friends and neigh- 
bors only. He owes no political debt to any single 
ward and it becomes his duty to legislate for the 
good of the city as a whole and not for any sub- 
division of it. 

The dangerous feature is the power the commis- 
sion form gives a few men. Should a dishonest or 
incompetent Board of Commissioners chance to se- 
cure election, the result might be disastrous before 
the people awoke to their peril and took steps to 
check it. Of course such a condition as that is very 
unlikely to occur, still there is a possibility of its oc- 
curring and in that one thing alone lies the danger. 

The mere fact that there is danger in the form, 
assures its safety, for it puts the voters on their 
guard and they are more careful than ever they 
were under the old method, in selecting their serv- 
ants, so that it is almost impossible for unworthy or 



The City of Houston, Texas 23 

incompetent men to be elected. If the commission 
had nothing else to recommend it, this placing the 
voters on their guard would be a sufficient indorse- 
ment of its merits. 

The evolution of the Commission idea has been 
slow and tedious, and it is remarkable that it has 
taken great disasters to impress its merits on the 
minds of interested communities. Following the 
two great yellow fever epidemics of 1878 and 1879 
in Memphis, Tenn., the people of that city found 
themselves bankrupt and forced to adopt the un- 
tried and desperate remedy of ceasing to be an in- 
corporated city and becoming a taxing district un- 
der a commission. That was, as a matter of fact, 
the first time the commission idea was applied prac- 
tically to the management and direction of munici- 
pal affairs. It was not until the great disaster at 
Galveston on September 8, 1900, that anything Hke 
a practical commission for the government of a city 
was devised. Galveston, by act of the Legislature, 
was granted a new charter which did away with the 
old mayor and board of aldermen and placed mu- 
nicipal affairs in the hands of five commissioners — 
a mayor, or chairman, a commissioner of finance, 
a commissioner of streets and alleys, a conmiissioner 
of water works, lights, etc., a commissioner of po- 
lice and fire departments. These are all elected by 
the whole vote of the city and each commissioner is 
given full charge of his department and held re- 
sponsible for its working. The other cormnissioners 
have the authority to overrule and veto any unde- 
sirable act of any one of their members, but this has 
never been necessary, for the abiUty and honesty of 
the men thus far elected by the people have been 



24 A Thumb-Nail History of 

such as to render unnecessary the exercise of the 
veto power by the other commissioners. If argu- 
ment were necessary to show the merits of the Com- 
mission form of municipal government, the suc- 
cess of that in Galveston would be all sufficient. 

The success of the Galveston Commission attract- 
ed wide attention and in 1904 the plan was submit- 
ted to the voters of Houston and, they having adopt- 
ed it, the next year a new charter was granted the 
city, under the terms of which Houston became a 
Commission city. 

Houston's charter differs in many respects from 
those of Galveston, Dallas and other cities that have 
gone under commission rule. Its practical work- 
ing is so well shown in an address delivered by 
Mayor Rice before the Chicago Commercial Club 
in December, 1910, that it may be well to take the 
following points from that address so as to best il- 
lustrate the commission: 

"The essential differences between the old form 
of municipal government and the commission form 
are three," said the mayor. "The substitution of a 
smaller number of aldermen, elected from the city 
at large, in place of a large number of aldermen, 
elected from different wards or subdivisions of the 
city; vesting of a co-ordinate power in the mayor 
as in the city council to dismiss any officer of the 
city government, except the controller, at any time 
without cause, and the essential provisions safe- 
guarding the granting of municipal franchises. In- 
stead of a body of twelve aldermen, elected from 




COL. CHAS. STEWART 

(DEC EASED I 
Former Prominent Attorney and Member Congress 



The City of Houston, Texas 25 

different wards or subdivisions of the city, under 
the Houston system four aldermen are elected from 
the body of the city by the votes of all the citizens, 
in the same way in M^hich the mayor is elected. 
These four aldermen, together with the mayor, con- 
stitute the city council or legislative department of 
the city government. The executive power is vest- 
ed in the mayor, but by an ordinance, for the ad- 
ministration of the city's affairs, a large part of 
executive or administrative power is subdivided 
into different departments, and a committee is 
placed over each department, and one of the four 
aldermen, nominated by the mayor, is what is 
known as the active chairman. 

"The mayor and all four aldermen are members 
of each committee. The active chairman of the 
committee practically has control of the administra- 
tion of the department, unless his views are over- 
ruled by the whole committee, but by the organiza- 
tion of the committees the active chairman does the 
work, to a certain extent, under the supervision and 
direction of the mayor, who is, in the last analysis, 
the head of each committee and the person in whom 
the executive power of the municipal government 
ultimately rests. 

"Under the old system of government, by which 
twelve aldermen were elected from as many differ- 
ent precincts of the city, it frequently happened 
that unfit men came to represent certain wards of 
the city council. Now, unless a man has sufficient 
standing and reputation throughout the body of 



26 A Thumb-Nail History of 

the city as a fit man for the office of alderman he 
will not be elected. Again, each alderman under the 
present system represents the whole city. Under the 
old system the conduct of pubhc business was con- 
tinually obstructed by a system of petty log-rolling 
going on among and between the representatives 
of the numerous sub-divisions of the city. Then, 
too, the smallness of the number of aldermen now 
affords opportunity for the transaction of business. 

"An executive session is held previous to each 
meeting of the city council, at which matters to come 
before the council are discussed and action deter- 
mined on. The small number of aldermen enables 
the city administration to act on all matters of im- 
portance as a unit. In other words, the system 
makes it possible to administer the affairs of the 
city in a prompt and business-like way. 

"This is one of the strongest arguments in favor 
of the present commission form of government, for 
with a majority of the aldermen always in session, 
public business can be, and is, promptly attended to. 
It is no longer necessary to go before the city coun- 
cil with petitions to have something done. Any citi- 
zen who desires to have a street paved, taxes adjust- 
ed, a nuisance abated, or anything else, has only to 
call at the mayor's office and have the matter 
promptly adjusted. After a hearing, the matter is 
decided by the council in the presence of the appli- 
cant. To illustrate the great difference between 
this method and the old one, the following compari- 
son is made : By the old method a petition was ad- 



The City of Houston, Texas 27 

dressed to the council. This was referred to a com- 
mittee, which acted when convenient. Then a re- 
port to the council was made by the committee. 
After the action of the council it went to the mayor 
and from him to someone else for execution. The 
people do not pay their taxes for such treatment. 
They want their business attended to promptly and 
that is what is being done under the commission." 

The coming July the commission will have been 
m existence seven years, and during that time it has 
accomplished wonders. In 1905 the floating debt 
of the city was about $400,000. Every cent of that 
has been wiped out and the taxpayers have been 
given, out of the treasury, without the issuance of 
a single bond for any one of the items, the follow- 
ing permanent improvements: 

City Attorney, Law Library $ 974.10 

Assessor and Collector, Block Book 

System 10,000.00 

City Hall, Furniture and Fixtures 1,123.67 

Police Department 4,096.03 

Fire Department Buildings and 

Equipments 66,239.67 

Electrical Department 37,461.47 

Health Department 7,340.94 

Parks 116,451.09 

Streets and Bridges 71,004.96 

Asphalt Plant 3,000.00 

Auditorium 390,340.92 

Ship Channel '102,536.05 

Sewers 132,047.56 



28 A Thumb-Nail History of 

Paving Streets 221,006.00 

Water Department, Extension of 

Mains and Improvements .... 325,757.33 

Wharves and Slips 33,109.89 

School Buildings 356,477.20 

Total Improvements $1,878,966.88 

Extraordinary Expenses. 

Storrie Certificates $ 73,300.00 

Refund Paving Certificates .... 141,418.68 
Sinking Fund 120,220.00 

$334,938.68 

This makes a grand total of $2,213,905.56, all of 
which was paid out of current revenues, and the 
elimination of a floating debt amounting to a little 
more than $400,000. One need go no further than 
those figures to be convinced of the benefits and ad- 
vantages of Commission form of government. 

Unquestionably the magnificent form of govern- 
ment that Houston has, and the thoroughly busi- 
ness-like manner in which the affairs of the city are 
administered, have had their effect in establishing 
confidence in the stability of the city both at home 
and abroad. Though the commission may not have 
caused it, the fact remains that co-incident with the 
establishment of the commission Houston began to 
grow and expand in the most marvelous way. 
Strangers who come here and find a large and beau- 
tiful city are amazed to learn that modern Houston 



The City of Houston, Texas 29 

is only about seven years old. That is a fact, how- 
ever, for all the great strides forward, all the large 
corporations, all the great business enterprises, are 
less than ten years old, while the city has more than 
doubled her population in seven years. 

Houston is today a city of skyscrapers and large 
buildings, and their number is being added to 
monthly. There are today a number of new ones 
going up and nearly every principal street in the 
city is the scene of building activity. There are ho- 
tels completed and being constructed; office build- 
ings, business buildings, bank buildings, to say noth- 
ing of the hundreds of residences being constructed. 
Houston stands in a class of its own when it comes 
to apartment houses, for there are more and finer 
ones here than in any other Texas city. They are 
nearly all strictly up to date and several of them 
are luxurious and costly affairs. 

Just what Houston is doing today and how it is 
being done is well shown in the reports made by the 
mayor and the commissioners and heads of depart- 
ments at the close of the fiscal year, February 29, 
1912. Mayor Rice says: 

Gentlemen: According to the law, I submit the 
annual report of the various departments and the 
budget for the ensuing year. 

You will notice that the appropriations recom- 
mended and the budget called for is some $200,000 
in excess of last year. One-half alone being in- 
crease of the interest and sinking funds on bonds 
and additional school appropriations. 



30 A Thumb-Nail History of 

The rapid growth of the city, and its numerous 
requirements, means that the growth, if yearly 
maintained, as it has for the past several years, the 
city of Houston must expend annually more reve- 
nue to maintain in efficiency the various depart- 
ments and satisfy local conditions. 

I shall briefly discuss the important demands of 
the city and make recommendations for their im- 
provements and needs. 

The water department is in splendid condition 
and with the extension of mains this j^ear will prob- 
ably place every one within the limits of the city of 
Houston in easy access of pure water and charging 
the lowest rate for consumption. 

Houston has an efficient and up-to-date fire de- 
partment, and but for the unfortunate fire which 
occurred in the manufacturing district on the north 
side of the city during a tremendous gale, would 
have probably maintained the smallest loss in any 
one year since Houston's growth. I call attention 
to this great conflagration from a commercial stand- 
point, as the great losses from the immense quanti- 
ties of cotton and manufactories destroyed ran into 
large sums of money. While numerous small homes 
were destroyed, yet, I am glad to state, the majority 
of those thus af fhcted asked for no assistance and 
are making plans to reconstruct their homes upon a 
better and safer basis. 

For those who were left destitute, too much praise 
can not be given to the United Charities and the 
kind citizens who came forward and cheerfullv made 



The City of Houston, Texas 31 

subscriptions for relief. Knowing the character of 
people who make up this community, and feeling 
confident of their generosity and grit, I, as mayor, 
declined all outside help and subsequent events 
justified my position. While deeply grateful for 
all offers of aid from all parts of the country, Hous- 
ton demonstrated that her people can and will take 
care of almost any calamity that may overtake them. 
1 recommend that an appropriation of $25,000 be 
made for a new fire station and equipment at West- 
moreland station, as suggested by Fire Commis- 
sioner Kohlhauff. 

I call your attention to the annual report of 
streets and bridges. It demonstrates what an im- 
mense amount of work and expense it requires to 
drain and make passable the streets in a level coun- 
try like ours. A great viaduct connecting the north 
and south sides of the city is now under good head- 
way and promises when completed to be one of the 
most substantial structures in the State, as well as 
giving rapid transportation for the people. Near- 
ly all the bridges over Buffalo Bayou are out of 
date and fail to properly accommodate the traffic. 
I recommend that the bridges at San Jacinto and 
Preston streets be removed and that more substan- 
tial bridges be constructed out of reinforced con- 
crete. I also recommend that a reinforced concrete 
bridge be built over Buffalo Bayou at the foot of 
Texas avenue, which will relieve congestion of traf- 
fic on both Washington and Preston avenues. 



32 A Thumb-Nail History of 

Houston avenue viaduct, now being constructed, 
will give immense relief to that section of the city. 

During the past year $500,000 of bonds were 
voted for school purposes, and several school houses 
will be constructed during the fiscal year, which will 
give the additional facilities that are so badly need- 
ed in our growing city. 

Both the school board and city commissioners 
have for some time been acquiring additional prop- 
erty for school sites and play grounds for the chil- 
dren, and I believe in the near future that Houston's 
schools and playgrounds will be a model for any 
city to copy. 

As we have no swimming pools for boys or girls 
in this community, upon the recommendation of 
iSIrs. James A. Baker, president of the Settlement 
association, who is taking a deep interest in their 
welfare, I suggest that a natitorium be constructed 
on the new Rusk school site, and that the feature be 
gradually extended to every other school in this city. 
I think Superintendent Horn's recommendation, 
that all public schools should be used as social cen- 
ters, be adopted. These school grounds and build- 
ings cost the taxpayer a great deal of money and 
should be utilized in various ways. School children 
are dismissed daily at 3 p. m. and there is no reason 
after that time why the immediate neighborhood 
should not use the building for any social custom 
they desire without going to the expense of renting 
halls. By such gatherings in a public building, that 
they have helped to construct, the people will not 






n 




PAUL BREMOND 
Pioneer Railway Builder 



The City of Houston^ Texas 33 

only become better acquainted, but better satisfied 
with taxation. 

The city of Houston should no longer wait for a 
park system. Land is becoming dearer every year. 
While the city has purchased additional park 
ground during the year, yet we are very deficient in 
this respect. We have a splendid board of park 
conmiissioners and I recommend that the city of 
Houston issue at least $250,000 park bonds or more 
this year in order to secure a good start in this re- 
spect. 

Now that the auditorium is completed I recom- 
mend that it be used for the best interest of the 
community. I am very anxious to see the social 
conditions of our people improved, especially on 
Sundays. On the first of May next Houston will 
liave one of the finest bands in the United States. 
It will be maintained by the city. Not only will 
there be instrumental music, but some of the best 
vocal music in the country. 

In addition to the musical part of the after- 
noons' and nights' entertainments on Sunday there 
can be secured good, wholesome picture shows, lec- 
tures and other entertainments that will tend to edu- 
cate the people and make them happy and content- 
ed. All these entertainments will be free for the 
people and especially to the working classes will this 
program be satisfactory, as they can enjoy the best 
music and best lectures at absolutely no cost. Once 
inaugurated and well established, I believe this 
work of our city government will go a long ways to- 



34 A Thumb-Nail History of 

ward exterminating some of the vicious tendencies 
that trouble our cities. 

This government, in fulfilling its promises, cre- 
ated a public service department last year, and ap- 
pointed a commissioner for that purpose. I recom- 
mend that every citizen read Mr. Gaston's report 
and know what has been accomplished. 

I am glad to state that the efficiency of the police 
department is gradually being raised, and I trust in 
the near future that it will be up to the standard. 

During the present year the Somers system of 
taxation has been established in Houston, at the sug- 
gestion of Commissioner Pastoriza. It seems to be 
a very efficient system, just and equitable to all. 
The tax board has adopted the system of assessing 
land values at 90 per cent and improvements at 25 
per cent of their value. Under this system the val- 
uations have been increased from $77,000,000 to 
$123,000,000, which is very great. All tax prob- 
lems are difficult, and very few, if any, are satis- 
factory. I would suggest that the citizens thor- 
oughly investigate this system and understand it. 
If it is satisfactory, so much the better ; if not, then 
some better plan should be proposed. The city coun- 
cil will not be arbitrary, but wiU be glad to listen to 
any one or all citizens upon this subject. Last year 
the tax rate was $1.70 per $100. This year it has 
been reduced to $1.30 per hundred for all purposes, 
being the lowest rate of any large city in the State. 

With the exception of a few cases of meningitis, 
which have existed in Houston for the past several 



The City of Houston, Texas 35 

months, the health of this community has been splen- 
did. Too much praise can not be given our health 
officer, Dr. G. W. Larendon, and specialist, Dr. 
F. J. Slataper, and their associates for the way the 
health department has been managed. On account 
of the amount of work and the risks that these gen- 
tlemen are required to run I am decidedly in favor 
of increasing their respective salaries. 

Now that the national government will soon com- 
mence work upon our waterway, I suggest that 
the city acquire more territory at the turning basin. 
1 suggest steps be taken to condemn all land that 
is needed for practical purposes, and also that the 
city of Houston build and maintain a modern 
dredgeboat on the channel. 

The city has recently adopted a front- foot plan 
of pavement. It is a great step forward in progress 
and means that Houston will now go forward with 
rapid strides. Already petitions have been placed 
with the council for over ten miles of pavement. 
I caution the people that no permanent pavement 
should be made until all water, gas and sewer mains 
are first laid. I earnestly recommend that a milhon 
dollars be issued in bonds for sanitary and storm 
sewers alone. 

A short time paving bond can be issued, redeem- 
able at the rate of, say, $200,000 per year, which 
will give immediate relief in regard to the pave- 
ments and not increase the bonded indebtedness. 

The city needs a city jail and additional fire- 
proof rooms to the city hall to preserve city records. 



36 A Thumb-Nail History of 

I recommend that an annex to the city hall be con- 
structed to care for all these various features. 
Thanking you for your hearty co-operation, I am, 

Respectfully, 

H. B. RICE. 

An idea of what it costs to run a big city like 
Houston may be formed from the following recom- 
mendations, made by the mayor, for the coming 
year: 

Mayor and commissioners $ 13,600 

Controller and secretary 7,500 

Law department 12,000 

Treasurer 620 

Assessor and collector 18,000 

City Hall 4,000 

Elections 1,000 

Damages 1,000 

Interest on bonds 265,000 

Sinking fund 140,000 

Miscellaneous expenses 15,000 

Electric lights 50,000 

Police 110,000 

Corporation court 2,500 

Fire department 125,000 

Health department 25,000 

Scavenger department 13,000 

Electrical department 8,000 

City engineer 20,000 

Streets and bridges 100,000 

Repair of shell and gravel streets . . . 25,000 

Sewer department 25,000 



The City of Houston, Tex^vs 37 

Garbage department 25,000 

Market 7,000 

Schools 210,000 

Parks 10,000 

Carnegie library 10,000 

Refunding certificates 21,000 

Buffalo Bayou 5,000 

ISIayor's emergency fund 1,000 

Westmoreland fire station and equip- 
ment 25,000 

Water Department — 

General expenses $ 80,000 

Interest 55,000 

Sinking fund 28,000 

Total $1,458,220 

Perhaps more interest attaches to the report of 
City Tax Commissioner J. J. Pastoriza this year 
than to any of the others, because of some radical 
changes that have been made in methods of taxation 
during the year just closed. 

He states in his report that in the beginning of 
1911 the city officials were confronted with the ne- 
cessity of raising the assessment over $12,000,000 
to produce the additional revenue needed. He says 
that while the work for 1911 was fairly well done, 
the experience gained has convinced him of the ne- 
cessity of a scientific plan of assessment. TheSomers 
system largely solved the problem with its system of 
equahzing the value by a mathematical rule for cal- 
culation. A contract was entered into with the Man- 



38 A Thumb-Nail History of 

ufacturers' Appraisal Company of Cleveland to in- 
stall the S3^stem and for the past four months that 
work has been in progress. 

In his report Commissioner Pastoriza says: "The 
application of the Somers system has revealed the 
fact that portions of many streets of Houston, some 
of them of exceeding value, are being used by indi- 
vidual citizens and corporations without bringing 
the city any rental or compensation whatever, and I 
recommend therefore that I be given authority to 
immediately institute suits to recover this valuable 
property for the city and to have removed such 
buildings or other obstructions as now occupy them. 

"I also discovered that the area of many pieces of 
land were not accurately stated upon the block 
maps. There was not sufficient time to enable me 
to have these lands surveyed for the 1912 assess- 
ment, and I ask to be given authority to have these 
lands surveyed and that the engineering department 
be instructed to place at my disposal such help as 
is necessary to do this work without interruption 
and with the least delay possible." 

The report shows that the tax rate was reduced 
from $1.70 in 1910 to $1.30 on the $100 in 1911. 

"To the average mind this might indicate a re- 
duction in the rate of taxation," explains Commis- 
sioner Pastoriza in his report, "but Houston is a 
growing city, growing at a rate which few people 
realize, and the ever increasing need for street pav- 
ing, drainage, sewers, extension of water mains, 
schools and playgrounds, for police and fire pro- 



The City of Houston^ Texas 39 

tection and a hundred and one improvements not 
enumerated, calls for an ever increasing revenue. 

"In conclusion permit me to say that we do not 
claim our values are absolutely correct, but we do 
claim that they have been equalized as nearly as is 
possible, and that if our valuation of any particular 
piece of property in a block is considered too high, 
at least everybody else in that block and in the block 
across the street will be equally high ; if we are low, 
everybody in that block and across the street will 
be equally low and there will be no discrimination. 
We have learned that it is not so much a question in 
the mind of a taxpayer whether our values are too 
high or too low, so long as we assess everybody the 
same, and only make the rate high enough to give 
the administration sufficient money to economically 
administer its affairs." 

The report compiled by Building Inspector W. 
X. Norris shows that during the last fiscal year of 
the city permits were issued out of his office for the 
construction of 11 Ol buildings of all kinds at an ag- 
gregate cost of $3,997,000. The permits issued dur- 
ing the previous fiscal year reached an aggregate 
of $3,152,820. Besides the permanent improve- 
ments permits were also issued last year for tem- 
porary work, aggregating $281,375, as against 
temporary work amounting to $189,270 during the 
previous year. 

In his report the building inspector recommends 
that the electric sign ordinance be revised so as to 



40 A Thumb-Nail History of 

provide for all electric signs to be hung vertical with 
the building. 

The permits issued by the building inspector have 
been classified by him in the following manner: 

No. of No. of 

Permits. Kind of Building. Bldgs. Valuation. 

1 18-story fireproof hotel 1 $500,000 

1 10-story fireproof hotel 1 195,000 

1 7-story fireproof office building. . 1 150,000 

1 6-story fireproof hotel 1 70,000 

1 6-story fireproof office building. . 1 135,000 

1 4-story fireproof building 1 150,000 

2 3-story fireproof buildings 2 117,000 

1 3-story brick hotel and theatre 

building 1 65,000 

2 3-story brick flats 2 31,300 

4 3-story brick buildings 4 126,500 

1 3-story brick warehouse 1 4,500 

1 3-story brick office building 1 14,000 

1 3-story concrete building and re- 

modeling 1 60,000 

5 2-story brick warehouses 5 61,000 

2 2-story brick flats 2 32,000 

2 2-story brick stores 2 9,000 

1 2-story brick office building 1 33,000 

5 2-story brick buildings 5 36,300 

3 2-story brick residences 3 87,500 

1 2-story concrete building 1 40,000 

1 2-story concrete warehouse 1 14,000 

3 2-story frame apartments 3 22,000 

5 2-story wood warehouses 5 59,350 

1 2-story stucco residence 1 16,000 

247 2-story frame residences 262 811,985 

1 Brick church 1 56,000 

6 1-story brick buildings 6 37,100 

1 1 -story brick office and car shed. 1 20,000 

2 1-story brick warehouses 2 12,000 

2 1 -story brick buildings (not built) 1 8,000 
1 1 -story cement block building. ... 1 3,000 

3 Frame churches 3 4,650 

1 Frame club house 1 2,500 




WM. R. BAKER 
Financier and Railway Builder 



The City of Houston, Texas 



41 



589 
18 



2 
926 



Cottages 748 

Iron and frame farehouses 19 

Open air theatre 

Automobile garage 

Fireproof addition 

Storage oil tank 

Oil plant 

Bread plant 

Viaduct 

Remodeling 2 



576,235 

34,040 

4,000 

500 

14,900 

5,000 

10,650 

16,500 

350,000 

47,500 



1101 $3,997,010 



Valuation of 926 permits, year ending Feb. 29, 

1912 $3,997,010 

Valuation of 868 permits, year ending Feb. 28, 

1911 3,152,820 



Increase in value, year ending Feb. 29, 1912. . $844,190 



Valuation, temporary permits, year ending Feb. 

29, 1912 $281,375 

Valuation, temporary permits, year ending Feb. 

28, 1911 189,270 



Increase for year ending Feb. 29, 1912, over 

1911 $92,105 



Total value permanent and temporary for year 
ending 1912 $4,278,385 

Total value permanent and temporary for year 
1911 3,342,090 



Increase in last 12 months over previous 12 
months $936,295 



42 A Thumb-Nail History of 

The following is a list of Houston's Mayors. The 
list is the one prepared by Major Roberts, though, 
for reasons given in the foregoing, Mr. Holman is 
not placed at the head: 

1838 — Dr. Francis Moore, Jr. 

1839— G. W. Lively. 

1840— Charles Biglow. 
1841-42— J. D. Andrews. 

1843 — Dr. Francis Moore, Jr. 

1844 — Horace Baldwin. 

1845— W. W. Swain. 

1846— Jas. Bailey. 
1847-48— P. B. Buckner. 
1849-52— Dr. Francis Moore, Jr. 
1853-54— Col. Nathan Fuller. 
1855-56 — Jas. H. Stevens. 

1857 — Cornelius Ennis. 

1858— A. McGowan. 

1859— W. H. King. 

1860— T. W. Whitmarsh. 

1861— W. J. Hutchins. 

1862— T. W. House. 
1863-64-65— WilHam Andrews. 

1866— H. D. Taylor. 

1867— A. McGowan. 

1868— J. R. Morris. 
1870-73— T. J. Scanlan. 

1874— J. T. D. Wilson. 
1875-76—1. C. Lord. 
1877-78— J. T. D. Wilson. 

1879— A. J. Burke. 



The City of Houston^ Texas 43 

1880-84— W. R. Baker. 
1886-88— D. C. Smith. 

1890— Henry Scherffius. 
1892-94— John T. Browne. 

1896— H. Baldwin Rice. 
1898-1900— Sam H. Brashear. 

1902— O. T. Holt. 

1904 — Andrew L. Jackson. 
1905-12~H. Baldwin Rice. 



CHAPTER TWO. 

Some Early Buildings — Fall of the First Hotel — 
First Brick Buildings — Public Buildings — The 
Peripatetic Postoffice — Early Fire Companies — 
History of Early Bridges. 

When one reads over the names of the early 
Houstonians, it is ahnost hke reading an early joint 
directory of Houston and Galveston, for in the 
forties many of the men who aided in establishing 
Houston were also instrumental in building up Gal- 
veston and their names became inseparable from the 
history of the two places. General E. B. Nichols 
was, after the fifties, one of the most progressive 
citizens of Galveston, but to that time he was one 
of the pioneer workers in Houston. In the case of 
]Mr. B. A. Shepherd, conditions were reversed, for 
he was first a citizen of Galveston and then of 
Houston. Gail Borden, who surveyed the city of 
Houston and made the first map of the new city, 
was for years a resident of Houston and then re- 
moved to Galveston, where he became one of the 
most enthusiastic citizens there and prophesied 
most of the great things that have been accom- 
phshed by that city. 

The first frame house in Houston was a small af- 
fair erected by the Torrey brothers who used it as 
a trading post for Indians. It was located on the 
north side of Preston near what is now the east end 
of Preston street bridge. It was afterwards pur- 



The City of Houston^ Texas 45 

chased by Mr. H. D. Taylor and used by him as 
a residence for many years. It was one of the most 
beautiful and attractive places in Houston, for it 
was in the midst of a grove of magnificent magnolia 
trees. 

On the south side of Preston and on the east side 
of Smith there was a single room board house, erect- 
ed about the same time as the Indian trading post. 
This was purchased by Col. N. Fuller, in 1837, and 
he added other rooms to it and built the residence 
which he occupied until the day of his death. That 
and the residence erected by Mr. A. C. Briscoe on 
JSIain and Prairie were unquestionably the first two- 
story houses erected in Houston, and both were 
built in 1837, the year after the founding of Hous- 
ton. An item of interest is that when the Fuller 
residence was torn down a year or two ago to make 
place for the great brick building that now occupies 
its site, the old and original beams and rafters were 
found to be in perfect preservation and resembled 
steel beams more than wooden ones. It was with 
difficulty that they were torn apart, showing how 
thorough and honest were the early Houston 
builders. 

The year 1837 also witnessed the erection of the 
first large warehouse in Houston. This was located 
on the northeast corner of Main and Commerce 
streets and was built by Mr. Thomas Elsberry. It 
was in this building that ^lessrs. Allen and Pool 
did business for many years, and it was there also 
that some of the great financiers of Houston had 



46 A Thumb-Nail History of 

their early training. Mr. Doswell and Mr. Wm. R. 
Baker had their first experience as business men 
there, and others of less prominence worked for Al- 
len and Pool from time to time. All the early cotton 
crops of Texas passed through that old building, 
for it was the only cotton warehouse here and its 
location was ideal for conditions as they prevailed 
then. The building fronted on Commerce street and 
extended back to the crude wharf of that day. The 
bales were simply tumbled out of the back door and 
landed near the steamboat, on which they were 
rolled by negro deck hands. Transportation by 
water was the only way to reach the markets of the 
world, and the bayou was of far more practical im- 
portance then than it has since become. 

While the carpenters were erecting the Allen and 
Pool warehouse, workmen were busily engaged in 
hewing logs for the building of Houston's first ho- 
tel, which was erected on the corner of Franklin 
and Travis, where the Southern Pacific offices now 
stand. 

It was built by Major Ben Fort Smith, one of 
the Texas pioneers, and its first proprietor was Mr. 
George Wilson, father of Mr. Ed Wilson, who is 
still an honored citizen of Houston. This old house 
stood for nearly twenty years and then, in 1855, it 
fell down through old age and decay. In the Hous- 
ton Telegraph of ISIay 16, 1855, is an interesting 
account of its fall, and some still more interesting 
reminiscences connected with the old building. "It 
had been in its day the hotel par excellence of the 



The City of Houston, Texas 47 

Capitol and commercial metropolis of the glorious 
old Republic of Texas," said the Telegraph. "The 
President and his cabinet and the senators and rep- 
resentatives and officials of the first and second 
Congresses had dined there and so, too, had foreign 
ministers." 

"Rusk, who was a great man before the Republic, 
was once glorified at its tables with a sacrifice of 
good things — fowls at $6 a pair, butter at $1 per 
pound, eggs at $3 per dozen and champagne at a 
fabulous price per bottle. It has been said that the 
dinner was planned to encourage a reconciliation 
betw^een Rusk and Houston, and that it was so far 
successful that Rusk, in toasting Houston, his old 
opponent, said : 'Houston, with all thy faults I love 
thee still.' " 

"Texas had great men in those days and their 
name was legion. It was an insult to take a man for 
anything but great, brave, chivalrous and even rich. 
Everybody was rich, or in the army or navy or pub- 
lic service, which was the same thing. The City Ho- 
tel had a barroom, one of perhaps twenty that flour- 
ished in the town, where steam was kept up at the 
explosion point, and the collapse of a decanter, 
pitcher or tumbler, as it came in contact with the 
brains of some unlucky devotee of the shrine of 
chivalry or bravado, or the kindred virtues usually 
worshipped 'when the wine was red in the cup,' was 
no uncommon occurrence. Those were the days of 
duels, bowie knives and pistols, poker, keno and 
faro, when ten, twenty or fifty thousand dollars 



48 A Thumb-Nail History of 

would be lost and won in a night. Texas was the 
prophesy of California and Houston a very San 
Francisco. No mines were dug, but gold was plenty 
and men managed to live without sweating their 
brows. If a man worked at all he earned from $8 
to $10 a day, but precious few worked at all. Buck 
Peters and Jeff Wright were the practical jokers. 
Judge Shelby was on the bench and was indicted 
by his own grand jury for playing backgammon 
with his wife. Gus Tompkins, fertile in expedient, 
but fractious, with his big brain and little body, was 
a terror to evil-doers. Felix Huston commanded the 
turbulent army, Commodore Moore had not come 
to Texas then, and the navy was divided with sev- 
eral competent but less ambitious commanders, not 
less distinguished among them was our old friend 
Boots Taylor, a very Chesterfield in manners. 
Carnes and Teel and Morehouse and Deaf Smith 
lived in those times with a host of other noble spir- 
its whose lights have long since gone out." 

"We notice a few survivors of those glorious days 
still among us. Col. Frank Johnson, one of the he- 
roes of the storming of San Antonio, and the sur- 
render of the Mexican garrison under Cos, sat with 
us on a log under the very eaves of the old build- 
ing the day before it fell, and with him another sur- 
vivor, Honest Bob Wilson, who was expelled from 
the Senate of the old Republic, but was re-elected 
and borne back in triumph upon the shoulders by 
an indignant people to the Capitol." 

During 1837-38-39 there were a great number 




EX-MAYOR H. D. TAYLOR 
Pioneer Merchant and Cotton Man 



The City of Houston^ Texas 49 

of houses erected in Houston, but they were all 
wooden structures or primitive log cabins. Not until 
nine years after the town was established was there 
a brick building j)ut up. During the year 1845 Mr. 
Cornelius Ennis and General E. B. Nichols erected 
two brick buildings on the east side of JNIain street, 
between Congress and Commerce avenues. One was 
where the Western Union Telegraph Office now is 
and the other was where the Converse building is 
located. 

Seven years later, in 1852, Mr. Paul Bremond 
erected a brick building and the next year ^Mr. B. 
A. Shepherd erected his bank building on the corner 
of Main and Congress, across the street from the 
present magnificent Union Bank building. 

All these first brick buildings were small two- 
story affairs, and as small as they were they seem 
to have been ahead of the time for in most of them 
the second stories were used only as lumber rooms. 

On :March 10, 1859, the first note of Houston's 
real progress was sounded by the fire bell. At the 
time it was regarded as a great disaster, and from a 
money point of view it was something of the kind, 
since the loss was placed at about $300,000, with 
little or no insurance. A great fire broke out at mid- 
night on the corner of Main and Congress, and 
raged for eight hours. All the block on the west 
side of IVIain between Preston and Congress was 
destroyed and half of the block on the opposite side 
of ^lain was also consumed. These houses a^ ere 



so A Thumb-Nail History of 

wooden shanties and their destruction was the best 
thing that could have happened. 

Ahnost before the ground grew cold again work- 
men were busy digging trenches for foundations, 
and in a short time several really fine brick buildings 
were erected. Mr. Wm. Van Alstyne, father of Mr. 
A. A. Van Alstyne, now of Galveston, had the 
honor of erecting the first three-story building in 
Houston r It- wag a very attractive building and 
stood on the corner of Main and Congress, directly 
opposite the present Krupp and Tuffly building. 
But Mr. J. R. Morris out-did Mr. Van Alstyne, for 
he put up a four-story iron-front building, not only 
the first of its kind in Houston, but the first ever 
erected in Texas. The building was in the middle 
of the block on the east side of Main, between Pres- 
ton and Congress avenues. 

It was not a fire, or disaster of any kind, that 
gave Houston its first great hotel. During the 
same year that the Van Alstyne and Morris build- 
ings were erected, Col. Wm. J. Hutchins began the 
erection of a large four-story hotel built of brick, 
on the historic site of Houston's first hotel. This 
was the famous Hutchins House, made famous by 
the fact that most of the State associations, societies 
and many of the large commercial enterprises had 
their inception in its parlors. 

To that time and ever since 1837, when the State 
Capitol building was erected, which was later the 
old Capitol Hotel, it had been Houston's chief ho- 
tel. This was a rather commodious frame building, 



The City of Houston^ Texas 51 

two-stories in height, and stood on the site where 
the new 18-story Rice Hotel is now being erected, 
corner of Main and Texas avenue. The Hutchins 
House was not completed until after the war; that 
is, not completely so, and there was a long delay 
before it could be used for the purpose for which 
it was designed. This historic house was burned 
down several years ago and the ground was allowed 
to remain vacant until 1911 when it was purchased 
by the Southern Pacific railroad and the present 
magnificent office building of that road was erect- 
ed on it. 

During 1859 and 1860 Houston had something 
of a building boom and a great many really preten- 
tious (for that day) buildings were erected in vari- 
ous parts of the city. One or two rather extensive 
fires occurred about that time, which cleared the 
ground of wooden shacks and enabled the owners 
to build more substantial houses, which they did. 

During and for some years after the war there 
was very little in the way of improvements. During 
the war it was impossible to do much and after peace 
had been declared the people were too poor to do 
anjrthing that was not absolutely imperative. The 
skyline of Houston, therefore, underwent no 
changes until 1894, when Jacob Binz erected the 
first skyscraper in Houston. This building is still 
standing and though there are many others that 
tower high above it, it is justly considered one of 
the most useful and substantial buildings of its class 
in Houston. This building occupies one of the his- 



52 A Thumb-Nail History or 

toric sites of the city, for it stands where the first 
Land Office of the Repubhc was situated, when 
Houston was the Capital of Texas. Its erection 
marked the beginning of a new era for Houston 
architecturally, for it was the introduction of the 
modern skyscraper, buildings for which Houston 
has since grown famous. 

Today Houston has more skyscrapers than any 
city in Texas and their number is being constantly 
added to. 

PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 

The first public buildings in Houston were the 
County courthouse and the County jail, erected in 
1838 by Harrisburg county, as Harris county was 
then called. They were both primitive in every sense 
of the word. The courthouse was a double log cabin, 
with a broad passage between the two rooms, such 
a building as is still occasionally seen on old planta- 
tions. The rooms were each sixteen feet square, the 
court being in one room and the clerk's office in the 
other. The jail was something of a curiosity, being 
simply a square log box having neither doors nor 
windows. There was but one opening, that being a 
trap-door at the top. Access to the jail was through 
this trap door. A prisoner was taken to the roof by 
means of a ladder. The ladder was then drawn up 
and lowered into the jail. The prisoner descended 
and then the ladder was drawn up and the trap shut. 
It was all very simple, but very cumbersome as well. 

Both the jail and courthouse were located on the 
Congress avenue side of courthouse square, near the 



The City of Houston, Texas 53 

Fannin street corner. They answered very well for 
the court needs of that day, but the city and county 
soon outgrew them and it became necessary to pro- 
vide better and more commodious quarters. The 
city having constructed the old market house and 
provided quite a commodious city lock-up or cala- 
boose, the county solved the jail problem by making 
a contract with the city whereby the county was al- 
lowed to make use of the city prison as a county jail. 
The old log courthouse was still used, however, until 
1850, when it was torn down and the first brick 
courthouse was erected. The building was placed 
almost in the center of the block, but a little to the 
Congress side. It was a two-story brick building, 
cost $15,000, and was regarded as the finest build- 
ing in the country by the early Houstonians. 

Owing to poor material, faulty construction or 
some other cause, this first courthouse did not stand 
long. Its walls cracked so badly and it showed such 
evidence of decay that nine years after its erection 
it was condemned and torn down to make way for 
a second brick building. 

The second brick courthouse was erected in 1859. 
This was a much larger and more expensive build- 
ing than its predecessor. It was placed on the north 
side of the square, fronting Congress avenue. It 
was really a three-story building for it had a large 
basement, which was used for offices by some of the 
county officials. The other county officials were 
located on the second floor, while the third floor was 
used entirely for court purposes, there being two 



54 A Thumb-Nail History of 

large court rooms. During the war the basement 
was fixed up for a guard-house, iron bars were 
placed in the windows and doors and at various 
times prisoners of war, captured at Galveston and 
Sabine Pass, were confined there. It was not used 
permanently for that purpose, however. 

Ten years after it was built, this building also be- 
gan to crumble and in 1869 it was torn down and 
another larger building was erected almost on the 
same site, only a little further back from Congress 
Avenue. This courthouse was an improvement over 
those that had preceded it and was also more sub- 
stantially constructed, for it stood thirteen years. 
In 1882 it was somewhat damaged by a wind storm, 
and, being rather dilapidated in every way, the 
County Commissioners decided to tear it down and 
erect a new and finer building. There was a great 
deal of friction between the members of the court 
over plans and financial matters, but finally every- 
thing was amicably settled and the courthouse was 
built in 1883. The new building was much more 
pretentious than any of the others that had preceded 
it and it was evidently better constructed for it 
served the purpose for which it had been construct- 
ed from 1883 until 1907, or almost a quarter of a 
century. In 1707 a special election was held and an 
issue of $500,000 of bonds was authorized for the 
purpose of building a courthouse in every way 
worthy of the great County of Harris and the great 
City of Houston. The bonds were issued and the 
present magnificent courthouse was erected. It is 



The City of Houston, Texas 55 

one of the finest buildings of its kind in the South 
and would be a credit to a city fives times the pop- 
ulation of Houston. 

Mr. O. L. Cochran, who has the distinction of be- 
ing the oldest citizen of Houston, and who for many 
years was the postmaster here, furnishes the follow- 
ing information about the early locations of the 
Houston Postof f ice : During the days of the Texas 
Republic it was located on the west side of Main 
street, about the middle of the block between Pres- 
ton and Congress avenues. After Texas became a 
State of the Union, in 1845, the office was removed 
to the old hotel, corner of Franklin avenue and 
Travis street. It was then removed to Dr. Hull's 
drug store, corner of Preston and JNIain, the site of 
the present Fox building. Then it was removed to 
courthouse square and located on the northeast cor- 
ner of Congress avenue and Fannin street. It re- 
mained here for many years and then was removed 
just across the street to the northwest corner of Con- 
gress and Fannin. The next move was to the rear 
of the Fox building on the north side of Preston. 
Then it was taken to the JNIiller building on the 
northwest corner of Fannin and Preston. Its stay 
here was not long and its next move was to the Tay- 
lor building on the southwest corner of Preston and 
San Jacinto. It remained in the Taylor building 
until 1890, when the Government purchased the 
southeast corner of Frankhn and Fannin and erect- 
ed its own building there. That building was be- 
hind the times and Houston grew so rapidly that 



56 A Thumb-Nail History of 

by the time it was completed, sub-stations had to be 
established to handle the business. 

In 1903 the Government purchased the block in 
front of the High School and erected on it the pres- 
ent fine building, which was completed only a few 
months ago. Although the building is very large 
and thoroughly equipped, Houston has again out- 
grown it, and it has been found necessary to retain 
the old building, which is to be remodeled, improved 
and used as a sub-station. 

As told elsewhere, Houston's first market house 
was erected in 1840 and stood until 1871, when it 
was torn down to make place for the great brick 
market erected at such immense cost to the tax- 
payers by the scalawag reconstruction city adminis- 
tration. This famous building was destroyed by fire 
in 1876 and one similar to it was built on the same 
site, though at a much less cost. In fact, the new 
building cost only about $80,000, while the old one 
cost $470,000. This new building was also destroyed 
by fire in 1901, and then the present magnificent 
market house and city hall combined was erected and 
today has no equal so far as usefulness, beauty of 
architecture and honest construction in the entire 
South. 

It is a singular fact that Houston formerly had 
a volunteer fire company that was older than the 
city itself; that is, older than the chartered city. This 
was Protection No. 1, which was organized in 1836. 
It was not only Houston's first fire company, but 
it was unquestionably the first fire company or- 



t 




EX-MAYOR JOHN T. BROWNE 
A Houston Boy Who Made Good 



The City of Houston, Texas 57 

ganized in Texas. Houston at that time was only 
an aggregation of tents and log shanties, so there 
was no great danger of big conflagrations, and 
fighting fire was not the serious thing it became 
after more pretentious buildings were erected. Still 
there was danger and the company was organized 
to meet that danger. For the first fourteen or fif- 
teen years of its existence the method and appli- 
ances for fighting fire were extremely crude, con- 
sisting only of the formation of a Hne of men and 
the passing of buckets filled with water. The com- 
pany was merely a bucket brigade, but it did good 
work. About 1850 the company purchased its first 
engine, which was a hand engine, worked by beams 
on each side. This old engine was used for many 
years and figured prominently at all the early fires, 
including the two or three great ones that occurred 
in the late fifties. It is regretted that the names of 
these early Houston firemen have not been pre- 
served. 

Protection No. 1 was Houston's only fire com- 
pany from 1836 until 1858, when the city having 
grown and a great fire having occurred in 1858 it 
became evident that better protection against fire 
was an imperative necessity. Hook and Ladder 
Company No. 1 was organized in 1858 and two 
years later, in 1860, Liberty No. 2 was organized. 
Then the great war came on and it was not until 
between 1866 and 1870 that further additions to the 
department were made. During the latter part of 



58 A Thumb-Nail Histoey of 

the war the engines were handled by negroes under 
control of white officers. 

Mr. T. W. House, Sr., who was Mayor of the 
city in 1862, organized the first Houston Fire De- 
partment. The Department was composed of Pro- 
tection No. 1, Hook and Ladder No. 2, and Liberty 
No. 2. Mr. E. L. Bremond was made Chief of the 
Department, and H. F. Hurd and Robert Burns 
were appointed First and Second Chiefs. The De- 
partment was not a great success and did not last 
long. There was friction between the companies and 
so each one pulled out and acted independently and 
the Department died a natural death. 

It was not until 1874 that another and successful 
attempt was made to organize a Department. That 
jear Mr. J. H. B. House, son of the organizer of 
the first Department, succeeded in getting all the 
companies in the city to consent to the organization 
and he formed a really strong and efficient Depart- 
ment. Mr. J. H. B. House was unanimously elected 
Chief, and Messrs. Z. T. Hogan and C. C. Beavens 
were elected First and Second Assistants, as named. 
Mr. House and Mr. Hogan resigned before the end 
of their first term, and Mr. W. WiUiams was elect- 
ed Chief, C. C. Beavens, First Assistant Chief, and 
Fred Harvey, Second Assistant. 

Following is a synopsis of the report of the cele- 
bration of San Jacinto Day, taken from the files 
of the Houston Telegraph of April 22, 1875. The 
celebration was gotten up by the new Fire Depart- 
ment: 



The City of Houston^ Texas 59 

There was a great street parade in which were 
large delegations from several interior cities, mostly 
from points on the Houston & Texas Central rail- 
road. Col. J. P. Likens delivered an address during 
the afternoon. The following local companies were 
in hne: 

Protection No. 1 — Charles Wichman, foreman; 
L. Ollre, first assistant; S. M. McAshan, president; 
Robert Brewster, secretary; R. Cohen, treasurer. 

Hook and Ladder, No. 1 — H. P. Roberts, presi- 
dent; L. Blanton, vice-president; William Camer- 
on, secretary; O. L. Cochran, treasurer; Dr. Thom. 
Robinson, foreman; J. C. Hart, first assistant; G. 
W. Gazley, second assistant. 

Stonewall, No. 3 — Joseph F. Meyer, foreman; 
L. M. Jones, first assistant; F. J. Frank, second as- 
sistant; W. Long, president; F. Ludke, vice-presi- 
dent; W. E. Smith, secretary. 

Brooks, No. 5 — I. C. Ford, foreman; William 
Alexander, first assistant; J. C. Thomas, Jr., sec- 
ond assistant; J. C. Thomas, Sr., president; I. 
Snowball, vice-president; S. L. Mateer, secretary; 
Thos. Milner, treasurer. 

Eagle, No. 7 — John Shearn, Jr., foreman; Wil- 
he Van Alstyne, first assistant; Ed. Mather, sec- 
ond assistant. 

The Telegraph added the following bit of infor- 
mation about the companies taking part in the pa- 
rade: 

Protection No. 1, organized in 1836. 



60 A Thumb-Nail History of 

Houston Hook and Ladder No. 1, organized 
April 17, 1858. 

Liberty No. 2, organized 1860. 

Stonewall No. 3, organized in the late sixties. 

Brooks No. 5, organized in the late sixties. 

Mechanic No. 6, organized October 28, 1873. 

Eagle No. 7, organized in 1875. 

At that time the Department had two steamers, 
one extinguisher engine, two hand wagons and one 
hook and ladder company. It cost about $9,000 an- 
nually to run the department. 

The old volunteer department existed as a whole 
for nineteen years, then, in 1893, it became a part 
pay and a part volunteer department. That prov- 
ing unsatisfactory, the city took over the whole de- 
partment in 1895, with the result that Houston has, 
today, one of the most useful and efficient Fire De- 
partments in the South. There are thirty pieces of 
fire-fighting apparatus, of which nine are powerful 
modern steamers. 

In 1875 it cost $9,000 annually to run the de- 
partment; today it costs very nearly $125,000. 

For some years after Houston was founded there 
was little or no necessity for crossing to the north 
side of the bayou. Very few people lived on that side 
and these came and went on small foot bridges 
tvhich answered very well for the requirements of 
the limited travel. It is true that there was a grow- 
ing wagon trade with other parts of the State and 
Houston but this was easily accommodated. All 
the trade from the west and northwest came in over 



The City of Houston^ Texas 61 

the San Felipe road. That from the north came 
into the city by Stockbridge's ford, which was sit- 
uated at the foot of Texas Avenue, while trade from 
the San Jacinto and Trinity came by the way of the 
Harrisburg ferry. The old San Felipe road re- 
mained unchanged to the end, but the trade from 
other parts of the State soon grew to such large pro- 
portions that the primitive methods of ford and fer- 
ry had to be abandoned and in 1843 the first bridge 
over Buffalo bayou was built at the foot of Pres- 
ton avenue. 

That bridge stood for ten years, but was swept 
away by a great flood which occurred in 1853. The 
bridge that was constructed in its place was remark- 
able for its height and length. Its builders deter- 
mined that it should not share the fate of its prede- 
cessor, so they built its center very high and extend- 
ed its ends high up on each bank of the bayou. It 
was appropriately named "Long Bridge," and 
though seriously threatened by high water on sev- 
eral occasions it always escaped destruction. Final- 
ly, in the great flood of 1878, it was so badly dam- 
aged that it became necessary to remodel it and the 
present Preston street bridge is the result. At 
about the same time that the Preston bridge was 
built a bridge was built across the bayou at the foot 
of Milam street and another across White Oak 
bayou at the same point the present White Oak 
bridge occupies. These bridges were originally 
cheap wooden structures, but were remodeled and 
iron work substituted for wood, except in the White 



62 A Thumb-Nail History of 

Oak bridge. It is utterly impossible to estimate the 
value of goods and produce that have passed over 
these bridges. For years everything grown in Texas 
for the outside markets was brought to Houston 
over them, while all goods and groceries shipped 
to the interior went out by the same routes. In time 
the Preston bridge became of chief importance, be- 
cause the section north of Houston became more 
rapidly developed and the trade was consequently 
immense in that direction. 

Of course when the railroads were built, the 
bridges were no longer needed for the purpose for 
which they were originally built, but by that time 
the city had grown and extended so that the bridges 
became equally as necessary for intercommunication 
between the various section of the city as they had 
been for communication with the interior of the 
State. More bridges became necessary and more 
were constructed until now there are half a dozen 
passenger bridges and numerous railroad bridges 
spanning Buffalo Bayou, while an immense bridge 
is being constructed at the foot of Main street so 
as to connect with the Fifth Ward. 



CHAPTER THREE. 

The First Railroad — How Mr. Bremond Accom- 
plished the Impossible — Railroad Development 
Before and After the War — Early Physicians 
and Lawyers — Sketch of the Courts. 

Ask ten men and the chances are that nine of 
them will say that the first railroad ever built in 
Texas had its start in Houston. This is no doubt due 
to the fact that the first road that ever amounted to 
anything, in the early days, the Houston & Texas 
Central, actually did have its beginning here. As a 
matter of fact, railroad building began (though 
nothing was accomplished) thirteen years before 
work on the Houston & Texas Central commenced. 
The mistake is quite natural for Houston has been 
the starting point for so many of the things that 
have made Texas great that it seems safe to credit 
her with being the mother of them all. 

Now, as a matter of fact, the first railroad con- 
struction ever done in Texas, if grading a few miles 
of track may be called construction, was at Harris- 
burg in 1840. JNIr. A. Brisco was the moving spirit 
in that enterprise and he formed a company, putting 
up as a bonus a number of lots in the City of Har- 
risburg. The company he formed had no charter 
nor did they try to get one. Their idea was to build 
the road from Harrisburg to the Brazos and, after 
they had earned enough money by the traffic from 
that rich section to justify them in doing so, to ex- 



64 A Thumb-Nail History of 

tend it further west towards Gonzales. A large 
force of negroes was put to work grading the road 
bed and nearly two miles were completed and ties 
purchased for that length of road when it was found 
that the cost of the iron rails would be too great, so 
the undertaking was abandoned. The next year, 
however, they took out a charter under the name 
of the Harrisburg Railroad and Trading Company. 
Though they had a charter now, they made no fur- 
ther attempt to actually construct the road and 
everything was allowed to lie dormant until 1847 
when General Sidney Sherman associated himself 
with a number of prominent Houston and Galves- 
ton men, secured the lots offered by INIr. Brisco, 
and after being assured of financial support by 
New York capitalists, he reorganized the road and 
secured another charter for it under the name Buf- 
falo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado railroad. That 
road afterwards became the Galveston, Harrisburg 
6i San Antonio railroad of today. 

Though General Sherman and his associates or- 
ganized in 1847, it was not until 1851 that actual 
work was commenced. The preparation of the road- 
bed was commenced and pushed as rapidly as possi- 
ble, but it was a year before rails were laid. That 
part of the work was done rapidly, however, and 
before the close of the year the road was actually 
completed as far as the Brazos, 32 miles from Har- 
risburg. No stop was made, but the road was 
pushed forward, and in 1860 Alleyton, 79 miles 
from Harrisburg, was reached. Here a halt was 




JOHN H. KIRBY 
The Man Who Put Houston on the Financial Map 



The City of Houston, Texas 65 

made and before work could be resumed the war 
came on and nothing further in the way of construc- 
tion was possible. 

The Houston men who had taken a leading part 
in the construction of this first railroad were W. M. 
Rice, W. A. Van Alstyne, James H. Stevens, B. 
A. Shepherd and W. J. Hutchins. 

These same men and others had organized a pure- 
ly local company at Houston, one year before con- 
struction had begun on the Harrisburg road, and 
had obtained a charter under the name of the Brazos 
Plank Road. Their object was to grade a road from 
Houston to some point on the Brazos and then 
plank it over so as to enable the ox wagons which 
were the only means of transportation in those days 
to reach Houston easily at all seasons. That was in 
1850, and the work of grading had extended the 
load twenty -thi-ee miles, though no planks had been 
laid, when some of the citizens of Chappell Hill, 
Washington County, issued a call for a great meet- 
ing to be held at Chappell Hill in the interest of 
building a railroad. Houston was invited to send 
delegates to that railroad convention, and a meet- 
ing was held in June, 1852, at the old Capitol Ho- 
tel for the purpose of discussing the question. 

The meeting was largely attended, the stock- 
holders in the Plank Road project being conspicu- 
ous. They had something of a double interest in 
the meeting, for while they knew the value of a rail- 
road they also knew that a railroad would complete- 
ly destroy the value of their plank road. However, 



66 A Thumb-Nail History of 

that fact seems not to have influenced their action, 
for they voted for sending a strong delegation to 
the Chappell Hill convention. This action was taken 
not without opposition, however, for while making- 
no direct attack on the proposed railroad, Dr. Fran- 
cis Moore, the editor of the Telegraph, made a vig- 
orous fight for the plank road, which he argued was 
a present necessity and one, too, which could be sup- 
plied at once, while it would take years to secure a 
charter for a raiboad and again years to build the 
road after the charter was secured. 

A fact worthy of special mention is that at that 
meeting Mr. Paul Bremond took a most prominent 
part in advocating the building of the railroad. This 
was his first appearance as a railroad advocate, and 
it deserves notice for it was he who was destined to 
become the real pioneer in railroad building in 
Texas. He had been one of the incorporators of the 
lailroad chartered in 1848 under the name of the 
Galveston and Red River railroad, which road, after 
many changes and amendments of its charter, fin- 
ally became the Houston and Texas Central. 

Mr. Bremond opposed adhering to the plank road 
if it was going to delay the building of the railroad, 
and advocated speedy action on the latter proposi- 
tion. The whole situation was gone over at that 
meeting with evident good results, for while neither 
the plank road nor the Washington County rail- 
road was ever built, there was started a movement 
towards railroad building that resulted in work be- 
ing actually begun on the Houston and Texas Cen- 



The City of Houston^ Texas 67 

tral railroad, January 1, 1853, Mr. Paul Bremond 
having the honor of throwing the first shovel of dirt. 

Now it may seem strange that any one should 
have raised the least objection to railroad building 
at a time when the urgent need of a railroad was so 
obvious. That, however, may be explained by the 
fact that the Houston merchants had become used 
to the means of transit then in vogue, namely, the 
ox-wagon, and had seen such good results follow- 
ing it that they were beginning to feel that they 
could do very well without other means of trans- 
portation. It must be borne in mind that the wagon 
service was not desultory nor intermittent. It was 
slow but it was certain and regular. For fourteen 
years it had been in force and was thoroughly or- 
ganized. Its very magnitude and the numbers en- 
gaged in the business rendered the service almost 
continuous, and while individual teams might be 
subject to unreasonable detention and delay, there 
were so many others to take their place that such 
gaps were not noticeable. 

As remarked, at the date of that Capitol Hotel 
meeting, the wagon service had been in force for 
fourteen years; had answered very well and met 
all conditions except that of speed and it is not to 
be wondered at that the ox-team should have had 
its advocates among those whose fortunes it had 
contributed so largely to build. 

The service was indeed of great magnitude for 
it extended as far west as the Colorado and up to 
Austin ; as far as Waco to the northwest and to all 



68 A Thumb-Nail History of 



points in East and Southern Central Texas. There 
were three or four thousand wagons engaged in the 
traffic and as each wagon required from sixteen 
to twenty-four oxen, an idea of the amount of 
money involved may be formed. In those days 
every bale of cotton, every bushel of corn, everj^ 
hide and everything else raised in Texas for the 
market came to Houston while all merchandise and 
groceries used in the interior, were hauled away 
from Houston by ox wagons. The business was a 
gigantic one. 

But the success of starting the Buffalo Bayou 
and Colorado railroad and of actually constructing 
32 miles of it in 1852, was too great a demonstra- 
tion of what could be done and it spurred the Hous- 
ton people on, so that, as already remarked, Mr. 
Bremond actually threw the first shovel full of dirt 
for what was destined to become one of the great- 
est roads in the country, on January 1, 1853. 

The story of Mr. Bremond's trials and tribula- 
tions has been told so often that it is needless to re- 
peat it here. He accomplished something that was 
never accomplished before and has never been at- 
tempted since. He built fifty miles of good rail- 
road on very little cash and a great deal of faith. 
He had absolute confidence in himself and in his 
own honesty and, some how, he managed to inspire 
others with his own faith and confidence. He was 
the first railroad builder to water the stock of his 
road, but his method was different from that of his 



The City of Houston, Texas 69 

successors for he used faith, faith and then more 
faith, and that was all. 

Mr. Bremond had hundreds of Irishmen work- 
ing for him as section hands, and it is no exagger- 
ation to say that before the expiration of the first 
six months he knew everyone of them by sight, if 
not by name. This was not because of any great 
democracy on his part nor was it because of the 
prominence of what is called good "mixing" quali- 
ties in him. It was based on something more rea- 
sonable and useful, for it was a measure of self -pro- 
tection on his part, for he used his knowledge of 
his men to enable him to keep from coming in con- 
tact with them. They were so unreasonable as to 
want pay for their work, and tiring of promises, 
they began to take matters in their own hands, with 
most unpleasant effects for JNIr. Bremond. No 
one ever knew how he accomphshed it, but he actu- 
ally built the road as far as Hempstead, fifty miles 
from Houston, with scarcely enough money to build 
ten miles, but with promises enough to have built 
the road to the north pole. 

When the road reached Hempstead it struck a 
rich territory and began doing a large and lucra- 
tive business. Mr. Bremond's first care was to ful- 
fill the promises he had made to his men, and their 
claims were the first that were settled. No man 
who ever trusted Paul Bremond, whether willingly 
or unwillingly, as those Irishmen did, ever lost a 
cent by doing so. 

Twenty -three years later, in 1876, Mr. Bremond 



70 A Thumb-Nail Histoey of 

undertook the construction of another great road. 
He tried to get sufficient outside backing to en- 
able him to build it without any of the friction and 
worry he had encountered with the Houston and 
Texas Central. His success in getting the financial 
aid he sought was only partial, but he had made up 
his mind to build the road and he did so. Again he 
threw the first spadeful of dirt, and before he got 
through with his work, he had added the Houston 
East and West Texas railroad to the iron ways cen- 
tering at Houston. When the war began Houston 
had made considerable progress in railroad build- 
ing. The Texas and New Orleans had been con- 
structed for about 111 miles, the Buffalo Bayou 
and Colorado had been extended to AUeyton, also 
about 80 miles, and had been connected with Hous- 
ton by the Columbia Tap road which extended from 
Houston to Columbia on the Brazos, fifty miles. 
The Houston and Texas Central had been extended 
to Millican, 81 miles from Houston, while the Gal- 
veston, Houston and Henderson road connected 
Houston and Galveston. The last named road was 
of the greatest military importance and was 
therefore kept up, in some way, during the 
four years of the war, but it was the only 
one. The other roads were, necessarily, al- 
lowed to go to ruin and when the war ended 
it was flattery to speak of them as "streaks of 
rust." The roadbed and right of way were about all 
that was left of them. The owners of the roads 
were in about as bad shape financially, as were the 



The City of Houston, Texas 71 

roads physically, with the result that through reor- 
ganization and other methods, by 1870 about every 
raih'oad in Texas had changed hands. 

With the completion of the Houston and Texas 
Central to Denison and its connection there with the 
Missouri, Kansas and Texas, thus forming a 
through line to St. Louis, and the completion of 
the Texas and New Orleans line to New Orleans, 
and the extension of the Galveston, Houston 
and San Antonio to San Antonio, Houston be- 
came a railroad center at once. Then the Inter- 
national and Great Northern was built and 
since the late seventies nearly each year has 
seen additions to Houston's railroads until now 
there are seventeen roads centering here and Hous- 
ton is now one of the greatest railroad centers in the 
country. 

It is interesting to note the difference in the rail- 
road situation in Texas, and in Harris county, in 
particular, since the close of the war. As noted in 
the foregoing there were, at the close of the war, 
less than 370 miles of railroads in the whole State. 
Today Harris county alone has 450 miles within its 
hmits, valued at $20,000,000, and, of this there is 
invested in terminal facihties at Houston about 
$12,000,000. 

According to the census report there are 2,843 
trainmen and clerks and 3,000 shopmen, or a total 
cf 5,843 employes of the railroads paid off here, the 
total amount of their salaries and wages footing up 
$7,000,000 in round numbers. Really Mr. Bremond 



72 A Thumb-Nail History of 

should be allowed to come back to life just to see 
what has grown from that first shovel of dirt he 
threw up on that January morning, 1853. 

The real importance and magnitude of the rail- 
road situation is shown much better by the terminal 
facilities and trackage of the roads within the city 
limits. Placed end to end these sidetracks and 
switches would make a line of railroad 275 miles 
long, or just about the total length of the Houston 
and Texas Central railroad. 

The Houston yards of the Southern Pacific road 
are the largest in the Southwest, having a trackage 
of 131 miles and a capacity of 10,000 cars. The 
Harriman tracks in Houston accommodate 123 dif- 
ferent industrial plants, handle over 50,000 cars 
monthly and employ in that work 547 men. The 
round houses contain 72 stalls and 1,600 men are 
employed in the round house and shops of this com- 
pany. Twenty-two switch engines are kept con- 
stantly in use in these yards, taking cars to and from 
the industrial plants and in making up trains. 

The Southern Pacific has 738 switches in the 
yards here. Among the other properties of the 
Southern Pacific are water tanks, for the locomo- 
tives, with a capacity of 100,000 gallons, and fuel 
oil tanks with a capacity of 225,000 barrels. The 
pay roll of the Harriman interests in Houston is 
$4,000,000 annually. 

The Houston Belt and Terminal company's ter- 
minals aggregate trackage of about fifty-five miles. 
Among other properties of this company, in addi- 



■f^^r^; 




H. BALDWIN RICE 
The Great Mayor of a Great City 



The City of Houston^ Texas 73 

tion to the handsome passenger terminal and the 
convenient freight depots, are a round house and 
machine shops, oil tanks and water tanks. Over 
200 men are employed in these yards and shops. 
The comi)any uses five switch engines, all of which 
burn oil. Practically every industrial plant in the 
city is reached by these tracks. 

The Houston Belt and Terminal company facili- 
ties are used by a number of the roads entering 
Houston. The INIissouri, Kansas and Texas, the 
Santa Fe, the Trinity and Brazos Valley, the Frisco 
lines east and the Brownsville line all use the pas- 
senger station. The same lines, with the exception 
of the Katy, use the freight facilities. 

The International and Great Northern has fifty- 
six miles of track in its local terminals. Its yards 
are mostly located on this side of the ship channel, 
though several miles are in the north side, \\'here 
they touch a number of Houston industries. The 
principal shops of the company are located in Pal- 
estine, but fifty-seven men are employed in the re- 
pair shops here. About 120 other men are employed 
in the j^ards. The tracks of this company touch 
eighty-three different industrial plants. There are 
twelve switch engines operating in these yards, 
which accommodate 2,500 cars. The oil tanks of 
tl)is company in Houston have a capacity of 100 
barrels and the water tanks 75,000 gallons. There 
are six stalls in the round house and 194 switches in 
the yards. 

The Missouri, Kansas and Texas has about fif- 



74 A Thumb-Nail History of 

teen miles of track in its yards here. These yards 
have a capacity of 1,500 cars. Forty -three men are 
employed in the car department of the shops here 
and nine men are employed in the round house, 
which has six stalls. In the yards there are forty- 
five men employed. Five switch engines are used 
in the yards constantly. The water tanks of this 
company here have a capacity of 100,000 gallons 
and the coal chutes forty tons. 

The San Antonio and Aransas Pass has a yard 
track mileage of thirteen miles. Over 1,100 cars 
can be accommodated in them and three switch 
engines are necessary to handle the business. Nine- 
teen men are employed in the yards. This company 
maintains a freight depot here, but its passenger 
trains enter the Southern Pacific depot. This com- 
pany is also closely allied to the Southern Pacific 
and can touch most of the local industrial plants 
on the Harriman tracks. 

All the other lines entering this city operate very 
little yard trackage, but have agreements with some 
one of these roads. The Galveston, Houston and 
Henderson and the Santa Fe both have small 
stretches of track here, but the mileage is small. 

It must not be supposed that land transportation 
occupied the attention of the early Houstonians to 
the exclusion of everything else. Water transpor- 
tation was given a great deal of attention, though 
in that direction not so much was required. There 
was plenty of water in the bayou to float the largest 
steamboats of that day, but there were one or two 



The City of Houston^ Texas 75 

very troublesome features. There were obstacles 
to navigation near Morgan's Point, where there 
were two bars known as Red Fish and Clopper's 
bars. The water was shallow at these two points 
and whenever a severe norther blew the water out 
of Galveston Bay, these bars became impassable. 
At that time there was no remedy for the evil, so 
it had to be endured. At this end of the bayou there 
was a less formidable though serious obstacle. Be- 
tween Houston and Harrisburg, for a distance by 
water of about sixteen miles, the bayou was very 
tortuous and overhung by large trees. The limbs 
of these trees played havoc with the wood work of 
the steamboats and sometimes did serious damage 
to the boats themselves. 

The work of improving navigation of the bayou 
was done exclusively by the people of Houston, 
without outside assistance. This seems strange, for 
among the first measures passed by the Texas 
Congress was one setting aside $300,000 for the im- 
provement of Texas rivers and harbors. For some 
unknown reason no request was ever made for this 
money, certainly not for the improvement of Buf- 
falo Bayou. The work was rather crude and sim- 
ple and was chiefly that of cutting off overhanging 
limbs, removing sunken logs and cutting down trees 
that could be gotten rid of in no other way. The 
importance of the bayou has always been recog- 
nized by the people of Houston first, and then by 
the people of Texas and of the Southwest. In the 
early days it afforded the only safe communication 



76 A Thumb-Nail History of 

between the people of Texas and the outside world, 
and in later days it has been made the basis for ad- 
justing fair and equitable freight rates over the rail- 
roads. Aside from its importance as a freight car- 
rier for Houston, it is important in regulating 
freights for the entire Southwest, and that fact 
creates interests in the bayou in territory remote 
from Houston. Really Buffalo Bayou should have 
pages devoted to it instead of this, necessarily, brief 
mention. 

A year after Houston was laid out as a "city," 
the first steamboat, the Laura, came up here from 
Harrisburg, though she had a terrible time in ac- 
complishing the passage from Harrisburg to Hous- 
ton. The Laura seems to have cleared the bayou 
of so many obstructions that after that several 
steamboats and sailing vessels came here and soon 
there was a regular service established between 
Houston and Galveston, which continued for some 
years after the war, the railroads finalty destroy- 
ing the passenger business, and since then the im- 
mense traffic, amounting to millions each year, has 
been done by means of barges. 

During the latter years there were some magnifi- 
cent steamboats engaged in the Houston-Galveston 
trade, the two most magnificent ones being the 
"Diana" and "T. M. Bagby," sister boats which 
compared favorably with any of the famous INlis- 
sissippi river boats. They were each 170 feet long, 
32 feet beam and five feet hold and were furnished 



The City of Houston, Texas 11 

in the most luxurious manner. Each was a veritable 
floating palace. 

There are only stray pieces of records and sta- 
tistics relating to cotton shipments during early 
years, in existence. In 1839 only eight bales of cot- 
ton were shipped down the bayou. By 1844 those 
eight bales had grown to 7,000. The next year, 
1845, a large cotton crop was made in Texas and 
the receipts and shipments here amounted to 12,000 
bales. Nine years later they had grown to be 38,000 
bales and the growth has been steady ever since, 
until today Houston handles more actual spot cot- 
ton than any other market in America. The local 
sales of spot cotton in Houston average about 
750,000 each season, while its receipts and shipments 
are between 2,500,000 and 3,000,000 bales yearly. 

Although there were such men as Ewing, Ash- 
bel Smith, JNIcAnally, and others of lesser promi- 
nence practicing medicine in the very early days of 
Houston there seems to have been no effort made 
by them to form a medical association. Ten years 
later there were several additions to the medical 
profession in Houston. Among the new-comers 
were Dr. S. O. Young, Sr., Dr. William McCraven, 
Dr. W. D. Robinson, Dr. W H. Howard and Dr. 
L. A. Bryan. 

More than ten years more passed before a suc- 
cessful attempt was made to form an association. 
In 1857 the first Houston medical association was 
organized. Dr. J. S. Duval was elected president; 
Dr. H. W. Waters, vice president and Dr. R. H. 



78 A Thumb-Nail History of 

Boxley, secretary. The following was the full list 
of members: J. S. Duval, W. H. Howard, Green- 
ville Dowell, R. H. Boxley, and H. W. Waters. 
The objects of the organization were: "To culti- 
vate the science of medicine and all its collateral 
branches; to cherish and sustain medical character; 
to encourage medical etiquette and to promote mu- 
tual improvement, social intercourse and good feel- 
ing among members of the medical profession." 

The first resolution adopted by the association 
was one aimed at the Homeopaths, and was as fol- 
lows: 

"Whereas, The scientific medical world has 
proven Homeopathy to be a species of empirism, 
too flagrant to merit the confidence of rational men, 
and too fabulous to deserve even the passing notice 
of an educated physician, and as we are convinced 
that it is a delusion, far surpassing any other ism 
known to the world, witchcraft not excepted, there- 
fore we will not recognize, professionally or pri- 
vately, any man who professes to cure diseases 
through the agency of Hahnemanic teachings. 

"Be it Resolved, That as a diploma from a reg- 
ularly organized medical school is the only evidence 
of qualification which our community can obtain in 
regard to the doctors in their midst, we respectfully 
recommend to the citizens of this flourishing city 
that they demand of every man who assumes the 
responsibihty of a physician to their families, their 
diplomas as certificates of their worthiness of pat- 
ronage, and that they see to it that they are not im- 



The City of Houston, Texas 79 

posed on by a diploma from a medical society or 
a certificate of qualifications as a dresser in a hos- 
pital." 

Two years later, in 1859, the Houston association 
issued a call addressed to the physicians of the 
State asking them to meet in Houston for the pur- 
pose of organizing a State Medical association. 
There is reason to believe that such meeting was 
held but there is no record of it. The best evidence 
that there was such an association formed is the fact 
that Dr. W. H. Howard, who was a member of the 
City association in 1859, always spoke of the forma- 
tion of the present State JNIedical association as the 
re-organization of the old association. 

The following named physicians met in the par- 
lors of the Hutchins House on December 8, 1868, 
for the purpose of forming the Harris County 
JNIedical association: L. A. Bryan, W. H. Howard, 
J. Larendon, D. F. Stuart, T. J. Poulson, R. W. 
Lunday, Alva Council Sr., Alva Council Jr., G. H. 
]McDonnall, W. D. Robinson, T. J. Devereaux, 
J. M. Morris, W. P. Riddell. 

After issuing a call to the physicians of Texas 
inviting them to meet in Houston, April 15, 1869, 
for the purpose of organizing, or rather re-organ- 
izing the State association, the Harris County asso- 
ciation adjourned and never held another meeting 
until resurrected in 1904, since which date it has 
been one of the largest and most useful county asso- 
ciations in the State. 

The State Medical association was formed in the 



80 A Thumb-Nail History of 

parlors of the Hutchins House, April 15, 1869. 

If the early lawyers of Houston had any associ- 
ation they have left no record of the fact. There 
were great lawyers then and they set a standard of 
professional ethics and courtesy which, be it said 
to the credit of those who followed them, has never 
been lowered. From the earhest date the bar of 
Houston has always been great and influential. 
Among the big men when Houston was in its swad- 
ling clothes were such men as Archibald Wynn, a 
criminal lawyer of marked abihty ; Peter W. Gray, 
W. P. Hamblen, E. A. Palmer, A. N. Jordan, J. 
W. Henderson, Benjamin F. Tankersley, Gus 
Tompkins, A. P. Thompson, A. S. Richardson 
and C. B. Sebin. The mere mention of these names 
is sufficient to show the high standing of the Hous- 
ton bar at the very beginning. 

During and after the close of the war there were 
many very brilliant and able lawyers who came to 
Houston. Among the most distinguished of these 
was Hon. Charles Stewart, D. U. Barziza, John 
H. Manley, Frank Spencer, George Goldthwaite, 
E. P. Hamblen, W. H. Crank, Judge Wilson, 
James JNIasterson, C. Anson Jones, son of the last 
President of the Republic of Texas; W. A. Car- 
rington, F. F. Chew, J. C. Hutchinson, Judge 
James Baker, W. B. Botts and others of equal 
prominence. These as all know, were men of the 
greatest probity and honor and would have reflected 
honor on any bar. 

When the first amended constitution of Texas 




COL. J. S RICE 

President Union National Bank 



The City of Houston^ Texas 81 

was adopted by the people, it created a criminal dis- 
trict court for Harris and Galveston counties. 
Judge Gustave Cook was appointed presiding 
judge and held the position for fourteen years. 
His successors on the bench have been: C. L. Cleve- 
land, E. D. Cavin, J. K. P. Gillespie, E. R. Camp- 
bell and C. W. Robinson. 

The following were the officers of the Eleventh 
district court from its organization to the present 
day: 

From 1837 to 1842— Benjamin C. Frankhn, 
Judge; James S. Holman, Clerk; John W. INIoore, 
Sheriff. 

From 1842 to 1849 — Richard Morris, Judge; 
F. R. Lubbock, Clerk; M. T. Rogers, Sheriff. 

From 1849 to 1854— C. W. Buckley, Judge; 
F. R. Lubbock, Clerk; David Russell, Sheriff. 

From 1854 to 1862— Peter W. Gray, Judge. 

From 1862 to 1866— James A. Baker, Judge; 
W. B. Walker, Clerk; B. P. Lanham, Sheriff. 

From 1866 to 1869 there were no elections and 
the members of the bar selected the following 
named gentlemen to act as judge of the court: 
George R. Scott, C. B. Sabin and P. W. Gray. 

From 1869 to 1870— George R. Scott, Judge. 

From '1870 to 1892— James R. ]Masterson, 
Judge. 

From 1892 to 1896— S. H. Brashear, Judge. 
From 1896 to 1900— John G. Tod, Judge. 
From 1900 to date — Charles E. Ashe, Judge. 



82 A Thumb-Nail History of 

The following is a complete list of the sheriffs of 
Harris county since the organization of the county 
to 1912: 

1837-42— John W. Moore. 

1842-49— M. T. Rodgers. 

1849-54— David Russell. 

1854-58— Thomas Hogan. 

1858-62— M. M. Grimes. 

1862-66 — B. P. Lanham. 

Note — In 1866 John Proudfoot was elected sher- 
iff but after holding office for a short time he dis- 
appeared and Mr. I. C. Lord, who was city marshal 
at the time, was appointed to act as sheriff until 
an election could be held. Another regular election 
was held and A. B. Hall was elected. 

1866-73— A. B. Hall. 

1873-76— S. S. Ashe. 

1876-82— Cornelius Noble. 

1882-86— John J. Fant. 

1886-94— George ElHs. 

1894-96— Fred Erichson. 

1896 to date — A. R. Anderson. 

The Fifty-first district court was organized in 
1897, and since then has had but three judges, as 
follows: 

From 1902 to 1911— Judge Wm. P. Hamblen. 
From 1911 to date — Judge William Masterson. 
Judge Hamblen having died in office, Judge Mas- 
terson was appointed to succeed him. 

The Sixty-first District court was organized in 
February, 1903, and has had but one presiding 



The City of Houston, Texas 83 

judge since its organization, Judge N. G. Kittrell. 

The Harris county court was created by the Leg- 
islature in 1867. John Brasher was elected county 
judge and served until 1869. His successor was 
Judge M. N. Brewster, who was put in office by 
the Republican reconstructionists. Judge Brew- 
ster was ousted by the Democrats in 1867 and 
Judge C. Anson Jones was elected and served until 
his death, which occurred in 1882. Judge E. P. 
Hamblen was elected in 1882 and served until 1884. 
Judge W. C. Andrews was elected in 1884 and 
served until 1892. Judge Andrews was a candi- 
date for re-election in 1892, but died just before the 
election. On the death of Judge Andrews Judge 
John G. Tod was placed on the ticket and was 
elected. In '1896, Judge W. N. Shaw was elected 
and remained in office for two years, being suc- 
ceeded by Judge E. H. Vasmer in 1898. Judge 
Vasmer held office for four years and was followed 
by Judge Blake Dupree in 1902. Judge Dupree 
held office for two terms and was succeeded by 
Judge A. E. Amerman, the present incumbent. 

The Corporation court for Houston was created 
by act of the Legislature in 1899. Before the cre- 
ation of this court the city had a somewhat similar 
court, the presiding judge being sometimes the 
mayor, sometimes a recorder and at others a jus- 
tice of the peace. The method was so unsatisfac- 
tory that the present court was created to avoid 
all confusion. The first election to provide a judge 
for the new court was held soon after the creation 



84 A Thumb-Nail History of 

of the court and Judge A. R. Railey was elected 
and served until 1902, when he was defeated by 
Judge Marmion. When the form of the city gov- 
ernment was changed Judge Marmion was elected 
as one of the commissioners and Judge John H. 
Kirlicks was appointed to fill his unexpired term 
and has held office ever since to the satisfaction 
of everybody except the evil-doers. 

The Houston Bar association was organized in 
1870. Judge Peter W. Gray was its first president, 
Judge George Golthwaite its vice president and 
Col. Thomas J. Whitfield, recording secretary, N. 
P. Turner, corresponding secretary and W. C. 
Watson, treasurer. The association was inot 
numerically strong at the beginning, but it was 
strong in every other way, for among its members 
were some of the greatest lawyers in the country. 
Today the association is strong in every way and 
compares favorably with similar associations any- 
where. L. J. Bryan is president; Thomas H. Botts, 
secretary and Chester H. Bryan is treasurer. The 
association has a membership of several hundred. 



CHAPTER FOUR. 

Houston s First Newspaper — Flood of Newspa- 
pers at the Close of the War — The Houston Post 
— Houston Herald — The Daily Post and Hous- 
ton Chronicle of Today. 

Before the invasion of Texas by Santa Anna 
there was a Mr. Gray who had a printing office, 
consisting of a few fonts of type, a dilapidated 
press and a few other necessary things at Brazoria. 
From time to time he pubhshed a httle news sheet, 
but made no effort to issue a regular newspaper. 
About the same time there was a little paper pub- 
lished at Nacogdoches, but it was spasmodic, irreg- 
ular and not entitled to be considered a newspaper. 
With these two exceptions there was not a paper 
published in Texas prior to the Texas Revolution, 
nor while the Texans were striving to bring about 
concerted action against Mexico, except that estab- 
lished by the Borden Brothers, Gail and Thomas, 
at Columbia, October 10, '1835. The Bordens had 
the greatest trouble to get not only material, but 
editors and printers, but finally they succeeded, 
and on the date named, issued the Telegraph and 
Register, which under the name of the Telegraph 
was destined to become and remain for years, the 
leading newspaper of Texas. 

The Telegraph and Register was issued on the 
very day that the Texans, under Fannin, stormed 
and took Goliad, and as things began to happen 



86 A Thumb-Nail History of 

with startling rapidity after that, there was no 
lack of sensational news for the paper. The paper 
was of the greatest assistance to the cause of the 
Texans, for it did much to concentrate pubhc opin- 
ion and to keep the people informed about current 
events — information obtainable in no other way. 
The paper was published regularly from October, 
1835, until late in March, 1836, when the Bordens, 
learning that Houston had fallen back before Santa 
Anna and had crossed the Brazos at San Felipe, 
decided to fall back themselves and take their news- 
paper plant to a safer location. With great diffi- 
culty they managed to move everything to Harris- 
burg and had an issue of the Telegraph all ready 
for the press when Santa Anna's soldiers showed 
up, burned their building and threw their press into 
the bayou. Instead of being discouraged the Bor- 
dens ordered a new outfit from Cincinnati, and, 
some time in August, 1836, resumed the publica- 
tion of the Telegraph in Columbia, where the Texas 
Congress met two months later. Gail Borden hav- 
ing been appointed collector of customs at Galves- 
ton and it being necessary for him to make his home 
there, he retired from the Telegraph and his brother 
Tom desiring to leave also, they sold the paper to 
Mr. Jacob Cruger and Dr. Francis Moore, who 
moved it to Houston and issued the first number 
here on May 2, 1837. Dr. Moore was chief editor 
of the Telegraph until 1853, when Harry H. Allen 
became editor and proprietor and continued as 
such until 1856, when he sold the paper to Mr. E. 



The City of Houston^ Texas 87 

H. Gushing, who was one of the most gifted writers 
and able newspaper men the State has ever had. 
Ten years later, in 1866, JNIr. Gushing sold the 
Telegraph to Col. C. C. Gillespie, who was a strong 
and forcible writer but rather a poor editor. Col. 
Gillespie employed Mr. J. E. Games as editorial 
writer and between the two the Telegraph soon be- 
came the leading literary paper of the State. Too 
much attention was paid to fine writing and too lit- 
tle to news, so the paper lost ground and was about 
on its last legs when Col. Gillespie sold it to General 
Webb, who published it regularly until 1873, when 
the financial panic of that year killed it. 

The next year Mr. A. C. Gray revived it and un- 
der his able management it soon became the leading 
paper of the State again. In its first issue under 
Mr. Gray's management, April 16, 1874, Mr. Gray 
said: 

"The Houston Telegraph is an old and familiar 
friend to very many in and out of Texas who will 
hail its reappearance as the return of an old, a much 
loved and greatly lamented companion. Founded 
in the days of the Republic, it was true to the gov- 
ernment and to the people, and by its efforts ac- 
comphshed, perhaps, as much as any other instru- 
mentality in calling attention to and developing the 
resources of this great commonwealth. Under the 
control and guidance of such men as Gail Borden, 
Dr. Francis Moore, Henry Allen, E. H. Gushing 
and others, it has reared for itself an imperishable 
monument, by its fidelity to the law, good govern- 



88 A Thumb-Nail History of 

ment and general progress. * * * It is with no 
ordinary satisfaction, and we trust a pardonable 
pride, that the present managing editor and propri- 
etor refers to his past connection with and present 
relation to the office of the Telegraph. Twenty- 
eight years ago, when a mere boy, he entered it as 
an apprentice. By patient toil and proper pride in 
his chosen profession he became its business manager 
during its most prosperous period. And when, un- 
der the financial panic of 1873, it was forced to 
suspend and ceased to make its daily appearance 
he mourned it as if a friend had fallen. Since then 
it has been his ambition to call the slumbering Ajax 
to the field again and bid it battle with renewed en- 
ergy for constitutional government. Democratic 
principles and the general weal." 

Mr. Gray made a magnificent fight to reinstate 
the Telegraph in the front ranks of Texas journals, 
and from a literary and politically influential point 
of view he was successful, but the financial strain 
became too great and in 1878 the Telegraph was 
forced to cease publication and its pages were closed 
forever. 

In the early fifties a Mr. Cruger, not the Cruger 
who was associated with Dr. Moore on the Tele- 
graph when it was established in Houston, began 
the publication of a tri-weekly paper called The 
Morning Star. This appears to have been quite 
an ambitious and prominent paper, judging by the 
incomplete files of it now in the Carnegie Library. 

It seems that everybody wanted to start a news- 




lSS«« 



mill ill! II 



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U 33 1111 

■ I II II II 
II llllll 



^nTri-'?iliiinii-iin 




UNION NATIONAL BANK 



The City of Houston, Texas 89 

paper in Houston after the war, for between 1865 
and 1880 there were no less than twenty-one that 
had appeared, splashed about in the troubled waters 
of journalism and then sunk beneath the waves to 
rise no more. Some of them were worthy and de- 
serving papers, but the majority of them were catch- 
penny affairs that were started "on a shoestring," 
merely to get hold of a Uttle cash from a confiding 
public. An exception was the Houston Age, owned 
later by Mr. Fourmy, the Directory man at present 
associated with ^Ir. ^Morrison. The Age became 
famous under the editorial management of Major 
Dan ]McGary, and also through the caustic articles 
contributed by Col. Dick Westcott, during heated 
political campaigns, and all campaigns were that 
during the existence of the Age. 

In 1880, ]Mr. Gail Johnson, a grandson of Mr. 
Gail Borden, the founder of the old Telegraph, es- 
tablished the Houston Post. This paper had am- 
ple financial backing and had an able and well or- 
ganized editorial and business force. It was a bright, 
newsy paper and soon secured a strong foothold in 
Houston and throughout the State as well. There 
is no question that it would have ultimately become 
one of the leading papers of the State but for a 
fatal error committed by Judge Johnson, the father 
cf jSlr. Gail Johnson who had founded the Post. 
The Judge became deeply interested in the paper, 
and, being an ardent Republican, he conceived an 
idea that he could make the Post a power in politics 
by supporting a candidate against the regular nom- 



90 A Thumb-Nail History of 

inee of the Democratic party. The Judge lost sight 
of the fact that Texas had so recently emerged from 
the reconstruction, scalawag rule that had cursed the 
State, and that the average citizen associated the 
name "Repubhcan" with all that was despicable and 
contemptible. Judge John Ireland was the regular 
Democratic nominee and he was opposed by Col. 
Wash Jones, who ran as an independent candidate. 
The Post supported Jones, and did so in such a mas- 
terly manner as to attract attention and cause a de- 
mand for the paper. The circulation increased rap- 
idly and continued to increase until the day of elec- 
tion. Then Ireland was triumphantly elected and 
the bubble burst. The circulation dropped off more 
rapidly than it had increased. The paper had lots 
of money behind it, however, and continued its ca- 
reer just as though nothing had occurred to mar 
the serenity of its course. 

]SIr. Gail Johnson had grown disgusted and hnd 
disposed of his interest to his father, who in 1883 
sold the Post to a syndicate of Plouston capitalists, 
who had conceived the idea of converting it into a 
great Democratic State paper. They secured the 
services of Mr. Hardenbrook, an experienced news- 
paper man, and placed him in full charge, supply- 
ing him with plenty of money and giving him a 
free hand to do as he chose. Hardenbrook brought 
Mr. Tobe Mitchell from St. Louis and placed him 
in charge of the editorial room. Hardenbrook and 
Mitchell spent money freely and soon made the 
Post one of the leading papers of the South. In 



The City of Houston, Texas 91 

eight or nine months they spent very nearly $300,- 
000. Then the backers of the paper became alarmed 
and one by one withdrew. Then the crash came 
and the paper suspended publication suddenly. 

The suspension of the Post left Houston with- 
out a morning paper and to supply the defect Dr. 
S. O. Young organized a company composed of 
practical printers and newspaper men and began 
the publication of a morning paper which was called 
The Houston Chronicle. Mr. Baker, who now 
owned the Post plant, allowed the company the use 
of it and also allowed them to use the large supply 
of white paper the Post had on hand when it sus- 
pended, charging only for what was actually used 
at cost price. The Chronicle was not a brilliant 
sheet, but it was an honest and fairly good paper. 
It was run strictly on the pay-as-you-go principle 
and at the end of its first year, while it had an 
empty treasury, it did not owe a dollar to any one. 

After an existence of very nearly eighteen 
months Dr. Young, who had secured entire con- 
trol of the Chronicle, merged it with the Journal, 
an afternoon paper owned by Professor Girardeau 
and Mr. J. L. Watson. The Journal ceased pub- 
Kcation and the new morning paper was called the 
Houston Daily Post. The first issue of the Post 
was on April 5, 1885. Effort was made to publish 
a more pretentious paper than the Chronicle had 
been, but that increased the expense, so that seri- 
ous complications arose. Professor Girardeau be- 
came disgusted and turned his back on journalism. 



92 A Thumb-Nail History of 

Messrs. Young and Watson purchased his interest 
and continued the struggle. The loss to the paper 
of such a man as Professor Girardeau was a seri- 
ous embarassment. However, it was a blessing in 
disguise, for the gentlemen were enabled to secure 
Col. R. ]M. Johnston as editorial manager. Colonel 
Johnston, as everybody knows, is one of the best 
and most practical newspaper men in the country. 

In September of the same year. Dr. Young 
received a flattering offer from the Galveston 
News to become one of its editorial writers. He 
gave his interest in the Post to Messrs. Watson and 
Johnston and went to Galveston. This left Watson 
and Johnston sole proprietors of the Post. They 
managed to keep their heads above water for about 
a year and in 1886, they re-organized the Post, 
turning it into a stock company. Even after that 
the Post had uphill sailing for a year or two, but 
finally the magnificent ability of Colonel Johnston 
as an editorial manager, backed by the absolute 
genius of Watson in the business office, began to 
tell and the Post became what it is today, one of the 
great newspapers of the Southwest. 

]Mr. W. H. Bailey, a bright young newspaper 
man, began the publication of an afternoon paper 
called the Herald. This was a regular live wire 
and was fully charged all the time. Mr. Bailey 
believed in telling the truth all the time irrespective 
of whom the truth might be about and he did so in 
every issue of the Herald. No one was too high 
and prominent to escape criticism and censure if 



The City of Houston^ Texas 93 

he deserved them. He played no favorites, but 
went after wrong-doers wherever discovered. The 
result was almost continual warfare for the first 
few months of the Herald's existence, and, what 
was more to the editor's satisfaction, an immense 
circulation for the paper. Subscriptions and adver- 
tisements poured in and the Herald became one of 
the leading papers in South Texas. 

After a red hot existence of eighteen years the 
Herald was finally sold to Mr. M. E. Foster, who 
had organized the Houston Chronicle and who 
bought the plant and good will of the Herald. 
The Houston Chronicle began publication on Oc- 
tober 14, 1902, and it is no exaggeration to say 
that it was a success from its very first issue. Its 
editor and proprietor, INIr. M. E. Foster, was no 
novice, having been managing editor of the Hous- 
ton Post and having had large experience and train- 
ing. He has made the Chronicle one of the leading 
State papers and its influence is great both in 
Houston and throughout the State. 

On May 18, 1880, a number of Texas editors as- 
sembled in the parlor of the Hutchins House and 
organized the Texas Press association. For four 
years the association met in Houston and then de- 
termined to meet each year in a different city. From 
a mere handful of members at the beginning the 
association has grown to be one of the largest and 
most important in the South and its annual meet- 
ings are looked forward to with pleasurable antici- 
pation by the members for they are always most 
profitable and enjoyable. 



CHAPTER FIVE. 

Houston's First Bank and Banker — The Great 
Banks of Today — Houston the Financial Center 
of the State — Houston's Great Trust Companies. 

Houston's first bank was actually one year older 
than Houston itself, having received its charter 
from the Congress of Coahuila and Texas before 
Texas became a Republic. It was an ambitious 
corporation, too, having a capital stock of $1,000,- 
000, some of which was actual cash, and its charter 
made it a bank of issue. Mr. S. M. Williams was 
its president and Mr. J. W. McMillan its cashier. 
Among the first acts of the Congress of the Re- 
public of Texas was a bill for the relief of the in- 
corporators of this bank, whereby their vested rights 
were recognized and protected. The institution 
was not popoular and constant warfare was made 
on it. It finally received its death blow when the 
Supreme Court annulled its charter. 

IMr. T. W. House, Sr., Mr. W. J. Hutchins, 
Mr. Cornelius Ennis and others of the early mer- 
chants conducted banks of their own in connection 
with their cotton and mercantile business. In 1854 
Mr. B. A. Shepherd opened an independent bank, 
engaging exclusively in the banking business and 
this was the first bank in Texas and Mr. Shepherd 
was the first banker. The milhon dollar bank re- 
ferred to in the foregoing paragraph had other 
features than banking, which leaves Mr. Shep- 



The City of Houston^ Texas 95 

herd's bank the honor of being the first genuine 
bank. In 1873 Mr. Hutchins closed out his bank 
and devoted himself to his wholesale business. Mr. 
House reversed Mr. Hutchins' process in part, for 
while he did not close out his cotton and wholesale 
business, he separated them from his bank and 
gave the latter more of his attention. When Mr. 
House died in 1881, his oldest son, T. W. House, 
Jr., bought the interests of his brothers in the bank 
and devoted his whole time to its affairs. House's 
Bank soon became one of the greatest financial 
institutions in the State. During the great panic 
of 1*907, due to many complications and circum- 
stances, it was forced to close its doors. 

The City Bank of Houston began business No- 
vember 1, 1870, with a capital stock of $250,000. It 
did business for fifteen years, but in 1885 was 
forced to suspend payment and went into the hands 
of a receiver. 

The Houston Savings Bank, organized in 1874, 
suspended payment and closed its doors in 1886. 
The public lost very little money by the failure of 
this bank or by that of the City Bank, which had 
occurred the year before. The First National Bank 
was organized in 1866 by Mr. B. A. Shepherd and 
Mr. T. ]\I. Bagby, the latter being its first presi- 
dent. On the death of INIr. Bagby, jNIr. Shepherd 
became president and when he died his son-in-law, 
Mr. A. S. Root, succeeded him. A few years ago 
Mr. Root died and Mr. O. L. Cochran, another son- 
in-law of Mr. Shepherd, became and is still presi- 



96 A Thumb-Nail History of 

dent. This bank is one of the strongest institu- 
tions in the country. Its original capital was $100,- 
000. In 1906 this was increased to $500,000. In 
1909 the stock was again doubled and in 1912 it was 
increased to $2,000,000. Its business has also shown 
a phenomenal growth, having about doubled in 
three years. September 1, 1909, its deposits were 
$4,764,967. September 1, 1910, the deposits had 
grown to $6,421,938. Four months later, January 
7, 1911, they were $7,953,096. Two months later, 
March 7, 1911, they were $8,432,907. On April 
18, 1912, the deposits were shghtly under $9,000,- 
000, or to be exact, $8,973,999.80. The home of 
this bank is one of the handsomest buildings in the 
city. It is only eight-stories high, but it has an im- 
mense floor space, larger than any bank in the 
South. It has a fine frontage on Main street and 
runs back for more than half a block on Franklin 
avenue. In addition to this, it has an ell that ex- 
tends from the Franklin side far back towards the 
middle of the block. The entire first, or ground 
floor is used by the bank while the other seven 
stories are used as offices. The building is of rein- 
forced concrete, steel structure and is fire-proof 
in every way. It has its own water supply, derived 
from a large artesian well. It also has its own heat- 
ing and electric light plant. There are three large 
and rapid elevators and the building is equipped 
from top to bottom with every device that con- 
tributes to the comfort and convenience of its ten- 
ants. The officers of the First National Bank are: 




THE CARTER BUILDING 



The City of Houston^ Texas 97 

O. L. Cochran, president; J. T, Scott, first vice 
president; H. R. Eldridge, second vice president; 
W. S. Cochran, cashier; W. E. Hertford and F. E. 
Russell, assistant cashiers. 

It was exactly twenty years after the organiza- 
tion of the First National Bank before another was 
organized. This was the Commercial National 
Bank, organized in 1886, with a capital stock of 
$500,000. This bank did an immense business and 
had large deposits. It was recently merged with 
the South Texas National Bank. 

The Houston National was the third national 
bank organized in Houston. It was chartered in 
1889, but in 1)909 obtained a new charter under the 
name of the Houston National Exchange Bank. 
This bank has a most extraordinary record. Its 
capital stock is only $200,000, while its surplus and 
undivided profits amount to three-fourths of its 
capital stock. It has deposits of very nearly four 
million dollars. The officers of the Houston Na- 
tional Exchange Bank are: Joseph F. Meyer, 
president; M. M. Graves, vice president; Henry 
S. Fox, Jr., active vice president; Joseph W. 
Hertford, cashier; F. F. Bearing and W. B. Hil- 
liard, assistant cashiers. 

The South Texas National Bank was the fourth 
national bank organized in Houston. It obtained 
its charter in 1890. On March 2, 1912, the South 
Texas National Bank absorbed the Texas Commer- 
cial National Bank. The new bank thus formed 
became the South Texas Commercial National 



98 A Thumb-Nail History of 

Bank, with a capital of $1,000,000. Nineteen days 
after the consolidation the deposits of the new bank 
were $11,000,000, while the capital and surplus 
amounted to nearly $2,000,000. 

The home of this bank is one of the finest and, 
architecturally, most beautiful buildings in the 
South. The front of the building is perfectly plain, 
but is of the purest marble. There are four col- 
umns supporting the main pediment, each turned 
from a solid slab of marble, the shafts of each being 
twenty -two feet long. The interior of the building 
is more beautiful than its exterior. Only the finest 
marble and ornamental bronze were used in the in- 
terior finish and the result is most pleasing. The 
high arched ceiling is an attractive feature. Only 
the very best artists and superior workers were em- 
ployed in finishing this building and the results ob- 
tained by them speak volumes for their taste and 
skill. The following are the officers of the South 
Texas Commercial Bank : Chairman of the board, 
Charles Dillingham; president, W. B. Chew; active 
vice president and cashier, B. D. Harris; vice presi- 
dents, James A. Baker, John M. Dorrance, J. E. 
JNIcAshan, Thornwell Fay and Judge T. J. Free- 
man. Assistant cashiers, August De Zavalla, P. 
J. Evershade, Paul G. Taylor. There are twenty- 
five directors, being the directors of the two con- 
solidated banks. They are: James A. Baker, F. 
A. Heitmann, Conrad Bering, O. T. Holt, R. Lee 
Blaffer, R. S. Lovett, Horace Booth, H. F. Mc- 
Gregor, Chester H. Bryan, J. E. McAshan, W. B. 



The City of Houston, Texas 99 

Chew, C. H. Markham, James D. Dawson, J. V. 
Neuhaus, Charles Dillingham, Edwin B. Parker, 
John M. Dorrance, S. C. Red, Thornwell Fay, 
Daniel Ripley, Thomas J. Freeman, Cleveland 
Sewall, B. D. Harris, J. J. Settegast, Jr . 

Houston's fifth national bank was the Union 
National Bank, organized in 1905. This bank 
represents three original banks. The Union Bank 
and Trust Company was chartered in 1905. In 
1908 it absorbed the Merchants National Bank. 
When this was done the bank took its present name 
and was chartered as the Union National Bank 
with a capital of $1,000,000. This bank is one of the 
strongest banks in the South and does an immense 
business. The twelve-story steel, reinforced concrete 
granite and brick building of this bank is one of 
the finest and most attractive buildings in the city. 
There are twelve stories above ground and an im- 
mense basement, thus making the building prac- 
tically thirteen stories. The basement and ground 
floor are used exclusively by the bank, while the 
other stories are devoted to modern offices. The 
basement is fitted up as elegantly as other parts of 
the building and besides the huge vaults, contains 
private rooms for the patrons of the bank. There 
are safety vaults and store rooms for the safe keep- 
ing of bulky valuables. 

The building is entirely independent of all out- 
side utilities, having its own artesian water supply, 
its own heating and electric hght plant and its own 
chilled air system for use in the summer. There 



100 A Thumb-Nail History of 

are several large elevators in the building, thus 
making access to every floor an easy thing. In- 
cluding the ground the building cost almost ex- 
actly $1,000,000. The officers of the Union Na- 
tional Bank are : J. S. Rice, president ; T. C. Dunn, 
George Hammen, W. T. Carter, Abe Levy, J. M. 
Rockwell, Jesse H. Jones and C. G. Pillot, vice 
presidents; DeWitt C. Dunn, cashier; D. W. 
Cooley and H. B. Finch, assistant cashiers. 

Houston's youngest national bank, the Lumber- 
mans National, seems to have been something of 
an absorber and consohdator itself. It was organ- 
ized and chartered in 1907 with a capital of $400,- 
000. When two years old it absorbed the National 
City Bank and the next year the American National 
Bank and Trust Company liquidated and turned 
over its business to the Lumbermans Bank. This 
bank is one of the strong financial institutions of 
Houston and of South Texas, and does an immense 
business. The officers of the Lumbermans Na- 
tional Bank are: S. F. Carter, president; Guy M. 
Bryan, active vice president; H. M. Garwood and 
W. D. Cleveland, vice presidents; Lynn P. TaUey, 
cashier; M. S. Murray and H. M. Wilkens, assist- 
ant cashiers. 

The fact that Houston is the real financial cen- 
ter of the State is shown by the report of the Treas- 
ury Department in Washington issued February 
20, 1912. In the report the standing of six leading 
cities is given and Houston occupies first place with 



The City of Houston, Texas 101 



a wide margin over her nearest competitor, Dallas. 
The figures for these cities are: 

Houston — Loans and discounts, $22,628,110; 
lawful money reserve, $3,728,112; individual de- 
posits, $22,425,250. 

Dallas— Loans and discounts, $17,221,605; law- 
ful reserves, $2,021,996; individual deposits, $17,- 
556,376. 

Fort Worth— Loans and discounts, $12,277,281; 
legal reserves, $1,277,660; individual deposits, 
$10,237,269. 

San Antonio — Loans and discounts, $9,073,658; 
lawful reserves, $1,716,011; individual deposits, 
$9,105,007. 

Waco— Loans and discounts, $5,832,276; lawful 
reserves, $711,567; individual deposits, $5,113,521. 

Galveston — Loans and discounts, $3,901,517; 
lawful reserves, $764,253; individual deposits, $3,- 
609,664. 

The foregoing pages tell of Houston's financial 
strength, but they tell only one-half of the story. 
Banks represent the commercial and business life 
of a community, their condition giving in concise 
form the extent and volume of trade in a way that 
can be understood by all. In the very nature of 
things, banks, no matter how great and strong, can 
not add to the physical and material growth of a 
community except indirectly. Banks prosper by 
lending money for short periods on commercial pa- 
per and similar securities. Their collaterals must 
be such as can be easily turned into cash on short 



102 A Thumb-Nail History of 

notice. Lands, mortgages, vendors lien notes and 
such things, considered gilt edge securities the world 
over, are not so considered by banks. The law even 
goes so far as to prohibit National banks taking 
land as security for loans. 

It is for the purpose of handling just such busi- 
ness as the banks can not or will not handle, that 
trust companies are formed. There is an indirect 
community of interest between the banks and trust 
companies, but there are no conflicting interests. 
One represents the financial and trade conditions of 
the community while the other represents the ma- 
terial growth, expansion and development of the 
community. No bank is wilHng to undertake to do 
the many things that modern business methods de- 
mand shaU be done. Such things are entirely with- 
out the province of banks. It is for the purpose of 
doing these things that trust companies have been 
formed. The trust companies perform a dual duty. 
They care for and conserve estates placed in their 
charge, and they also afford a source from which 
may be obtained long time loans. Usually these 
loans are made for the purpose of improving and 
developing intrinsically valuable property; the 
property itself being taken as security for payment 
of the debt. The length of the loan, the rate of in- 
terest paid by the borrower and the absolute security 
afforded by the property, held as collateral, make 
such a transaction a safe and sure investment for 
the trust company, while the reasonable interest, 
paid by the borrower and the long time given him 



The City of Houston, Texas 103 

in which to pay back the loan, make the transaction 
a very advantageous one for the borrower. 

The wonderful growth of Houston during the 
last seven or eight years has led to the formation 
of trust companies here and Houston now has sev- 
eral of the strongest in the South. 

The oldest trust company in Texas was organized 
in Houston thirty-seven years ago, in 1875. The 
history of those dark and stormy days would lead 
one to think that large financial schemes would have 
no place in them, and yet the Houston Land and 
Trust Company was chartered during the darkest 
days of the city. It was originally chartered as a 
land and trust company and did only a small and 
unimportant business for years. In 1889 it was 
reorganized and took out a new charter which en- 
abled it to do a regular trust and mortgage busi- 
ness. It is now one of the most important institu- 
tions of its kind in the country and does an immense 
and highly profitable business. Its business is 
strictly that of a trust company and in no way does 
it encroach on the business done by banks. The fol- 
lowing was the condition of this company at the 
close of business, JNIarch 31, 1912: 

Capital stock $ 250,000.00 

Surplus 340,000.00 

Undivided profits 2,980.00 

Time certificates of deposit 1,313,364.44 

Accrued interest payable 13,063.66 

Estate and trust account 104,827.27 

Dividend No. 36, payable May 1, 1912 7,500.00 

$2,031,735.37 



104 A Thumb-Nail History of 

The officers are: O. L. Cochran, president; R. 
E. Paine, vice president; P. B. Timpson, vice presi- 
dent; W. S. Patton, secretary and treasurer; O. R. 
Weyrich, assistant secretary. 

The Southern Trust Company was organized in 
1909 and began business in January, 1910. Its cap- 
ital stock was $500,000, but this was almost immedi- 
ately increased to $800,000. The success of this 
company has been phenomenal. It is only a little 
over two years old and yet it has earned over half a 
milHon dollars and has paid large dividends since 
its organization. Following is the statement of this 
company at the close of business April 18, 1912: 

Capital stock paid in $ 800,000.00 

Surplus fund 400,000.00 

Undivided profits, net 168,278.21 

Trust funds 6,466.10 

Reserved for taxes, 1912 4,500.00 

Bills payable and re-discounts 140,000.00 

Certificates of deposits 177,300.00 

Accounts payable 2,438.28 



$1,698,982.59 
The officers of the Southern Trust Company 
are: James L. Autry, president; Travis Holland, 
vice president; J. W. Powers, Jr., secretary; Bev- 
erly W. Ward, assistant secretary; Ernest Carroll, 
treasurer. 

The Texas Trust Company was orgaiiized in 
1909 with a capital stock of $500,000. It at once 
established for itself a reputation for soundness 
and conservatism, which made at once towards its 



The City of Houston, Tex^\s 105 

success. The company was in active operation for 
slightly over two years and during that time paid 
dividends of 10 per cent and accumulated a surplus 
of very nearly a quarter of a million dollars. On 
September 1, 1911, the Texas Trust Company con- 
solidated with the Bankers' Trust Company, thus 
making the latter one of the greatest trust com- 
panies in the South. 

The Bankers' Trust Company was chartered in 
1909 with a capital stock of $500,000, and a paid in 
surplus of $25,000. The capital stock was soon in- 
creased to $1,000,000. The volume of business done 
by this company was very great and its success was 
phenomenal. September 1, 1911, the Bankers' 
Trust Company absorbed the Texas Trust Com- 
pany, at the same time increasing its capital stock 
to $2,000,000. This company transacts a general 
trust business and is fully equipped in all its depart- 
ments to meet the financial requirements of its 
patrons. It takes charge of real and personal es- 
tates, and acts as executor, administrator, receiver 
and trustee. 

Following is the statement of this company, 

issued at the close of business April 18, 1912: 

Capital stock $2,000,000.00 

Surplus and profits (net) 881,638.23 

Reserved for taxes 12,000.00 

Demand deposits 44,102.35 

Certificates of deposit 723,496.21 

Cashier's checks 4,302.00 

Trust funds 900,992.46 

Re-discounts 12,973.35 

Total $4,579,504.35 



106 A Thumb-Nail History of 

The officers of the Bankers' Trust Company are: 
Jesse H. Jones, chairman of the board; J. S. Rice, 
president; Tom M. Taylor, N. E. Meador, J. M. 
Rockwell, James A. Baker, A. M. Levy, W. T. 
Carter, C. G. Pillot and J. W. Link, vice presi- 
dents; C. M. Malone, secretary; F. J. Heyne, treas- 
urer and cashier; Burke Baker, bond officer; Wil- 
liam Malone, real estate officer; Andrews, Ball & 
Streetman, counsel. 

The American Trust Company is a young affair, 
being only about a year old. It was organized in 
19*11 with a capital stock of $500,000. This com- 
pany has banking privileges and intends taking 
full advantage of them. Its business at present is 
both bank and trust business and it bids fair to be 
one of the strong financial institutions of Houston, 
both as a bank and as a trust company. Its officers 
are: J. D. Hefley, president; J. E. Duff, vice 
president; N. B. Sligh, treasurer. 

The Commonwealth Trust Company is Hous- 
ton's latest trust company. It has just been organ- 
ized, though it has not yet opened its doors for busi- 
ness. Its capital stock of $500,000.00 has been 
over-subscribed. Its charter is one of wide scope 
and gives it large privileges and an ample field of 
operation. The charter is that of the First State 
Bank of Hillsboro, Texas. Mr. W. E. Richards, 
the president of the present trust company, pur- 
chased the Hillsboro charter and at once organized 
The Commonwealth Trust Company. The officers 
of the company are: W. E. Richards, president; 



The City of Houston^ Texas 107 

Exile Burkitt, active vice president ; Horace Booth, 
Geo. W. Riddle, W. R. Allison, Monta J. Moore, 
W. H. Gill, H. H. Simmons, John H. Foster, 
John S. Callaway and R. E. Burt, directors. 

The Continental Trust Company (without bank- 
ing privileges) is now in process of organization, 
here in Houston. This is to be one of the greatest 
and most powerful trust companies in the country. 
The capital stock of the company will be $1,000,- 
000.00, while there will also be a paid-in surplus of 
$1,000,000.00 The prospectus of this company 
gives so clear an idea of the functions of a trust 
company, and particularly of the objects of the 
present company, that the following liberal extract 
is taken from it: 

"The Continental Trust Company (without 
banking privileges) of Houston, Texas, has been 
organized to assist in supplying the urgent demand 
for a place of sufficient magnitude and strength to 
which application may be made for absolutely good 
first mortgage or vendor's lien loans; where per- 
sons seeking investments may expect to find good 
securities in amounts commensurate with their re- 
spective means available for employment; being a 
medium where the borrower and investor come to- 
gether; also where reliable information concerning 
relative values of property may be obtained with a 
view of creating closer relations with Eastern and 
foreign connections to the end of filling a distinct 
need incident to the upbuilding of a country already 



108 A Thumb-Nail History or 

demonstrated to be resourceful and rapidly increas- 
ing in wealth. 

"Practically every city in Texas is experiencing 
a large demand for gilt-edge first mortgage and 
vendor's lien loans, and trust companies in Texas, 
which are only a few in number, are unable to sup- 
ply but a small percentage of such demand. * * * 
The powers which the company will exercise are 
those of the soundest institutions of this character, 
omitting banking functions, and especially the re- 
ceipt of deposits subject to check. It will act chief- 
ly as intermediary between the investor and the bor- 
rower, between capital and those who need capital 
to develop the resources of Texas. Its profits will 
be derived from expert service which it will offer 
the investor, together with the assurance of its large 
financial responsibility in placing and safeguard- 
ing funds ; and to those needing capital, by furnish- 
ing a market for securities and rendering assist- 
ance necessary to place them in such form as will 
make them marketable." 

Mr. S. F. Carter, president of the Lumbermans 
National Bank; Hon. Jonathan Lane, Mr. John 
H. Thompson, vice president and general manager 
of the Guarantee Life Insurance Company of 
Houston; Mr. James F. Sadler, Jr., and other busi- 
ness associates of these gentlemen are prominent in 
organizing this company, so it is quite evident tKat 
its success is assured. 



CHAPTER SIX. 

Early Church Services — Organization of the First 
Churches — History of Church Building in Hous- 
ton — Houston Today a City of Churches. 

When the Aliens laid out Houston they set aside 
the quarter of a block on the northwest corner of 
Capitol and JNIain "for church purposes." The 
gift was to no denomination or sect, but was to all. 
A year or two later there was a small building 
erected on one of the lots and all denominations had 
the use of it. After the State House was built re- 
ligious services were held in one of its halls. 

While there is a legend that the first religious 
service ever held in Houston was under the spread- 
ing branches of a tree that grew on INIarket Square, 
in 1837, the fact remains that the first authentic 
evangelical service was that which occurred in 1836. 
The fact is a matter of record that Rev. Mr. Mor- 
rell, an itinerant Baptist preacher, who came to 
Texas before San Jacinto, preached in Houston in 
1836. 

It is rather singular that with all the "hard cases" 
that were in Houston in the early days, and the 
consequent necessity for taking precautions for con- 
trolling them, the first vigilance committee formed 
in Houston should have been composed entirely of 
preachers and that the object of the committee 
should have been to guard the public against being 
imposed on by fraudulent preachers. Such was the 
case, however, and the "Preachers' Vigilance Com- 



110 A Thumb-Nail History of 

mittee" was formed in ^lay of 1837. There is no 
record of their executing any frauds, or of anything 
else they did. No doubt their very existence warned 
away frauds and thus accomphshed what they de- 
sired without further exertion on their part. 

The first church to secure a permanent foothold 
in Houston was the Methodist, which perfected an 
organization in 1837, the year after the founding 
of Houston. That year the Aliens donated to the 
Methodist brethren the half block on the north side 
of Texas avenue between Travis and Milam streets. 
The establishment of ^lethodism here was almost 
entirely the work of one individual, the late honored 
and revered Charles Shearn. Mr. Shearn was a 
most earnest and devout Christian and devoted his 
life to the advancement of his church. He brought 
from New Orleans, at his personal expense, a min- 
ister of the gospel, gave him a home in his own 
house, and was mainly responsible for the estabhsh- 
ment, growth and influence of the Methodist church 
here. In later years he gave largely, both in time 
and money, to the church cause, and after the war 
he built, almost entirely with his own money, the 
church on Texas avenue, afterwards torn down 
when the site was sold. When the valuable prop- 
erty on Texas avenue was disposed of, and, having 
money, the congregation determined to build an 
imposing edifice, they put up a magnificent build- 
ing on Main street and so far forgot their old bene- 
factor, in the days of their prosperity, that his name 
was dropped entirely and Shearn Church became 



The City of Houston, Texas 111 

the First Methodist Church. The writer is not a 
member of the Methodist church, and probably it 
is a bit of impertinence for him to express an opin- 
ion on the subject, but the temptation is too strong 
to resist. The dropping of the name of the good 
old saint who did so much for the church and who, 
unaided and almost alone, placed it on its feet and 
guided it on the way to prosperity, was an act by 
the side of which the proverbial ingratitude of re- 
pubhcs sinks into insignificance. The First Pres- 
byterian church was organized in the Senate cham- 
ber of the Capitol building in 1838. Though a 
church organization was perfected in 1838, no ef- 
fort was made to erect a church building until 1843. 
One reason for the delay was, no doubt, the fact 
that the Aliens had stipulated that all churches 
should have free use of the site on Capitol and Main 
imtil they secured building sites of their own, when 
the property should revert to the Presbyterians for 
their sole use. Although, by 1843, all the various 
churches did not have permanent homes of their 
own, most of them were making active efforts to 
secure them, so the Presbyterians determined to 
build. Early in the year a canvass was made, funds 
secured, and the same year the First Presbyterian 
church was erected on Main street near the corner 
of Capitol. It was a large frame building, facing 
Main street, and was used by the congregation for 
many years, or until destroyed by fire in 1859. 

When the congregation erected a new building 
they used brick and faced the church on Capitol 
street. Services were held there until, in 1879, the 



112 A Thumb-Nail History of 

building cracked badly and was declared to be un- 
safe. The building was to all intents and purposes 
torn down and restored, thus making it safe. The 
congregation moved into their restored building 
early in 1880, the first sermon being preached by 
their new pastor. Rev. E. D. Junkin, who in ad- 
dition to being a most eloquent and Christian gen- 
tleman, had the distinction of being the brother-in- 
law of the famous Confederate General Stonewall 
Jackson. 

Dr. Junkin's successor was Rev. Dr. Wm. Hayne 
LeaveU. Dr. Leavell resigned in 1906 and was suc- 
ceeded by the Rev. Dr. Wm. States Jacobs, the 
present pastor. 

The Presbyterians have had fewer pastors than 
any of the other churches, yet few as they have had, 
they have lost two by sea tragedies. In 1858 Rev. 
Mr. Ruthvan was lost at sea. He was going from 
Galveston to New Orleans on the ill-fated Nauti- 
lus, which was lost in a great storm that swept the 
gulf. All the passengers and crew were lost with 
the exception of a negro deck hand, who clung to 
9 bale of cotton and was picked up by a passing ves- 
sel a day or two later. 

In 1866, Rev. Dr. Castleton and his wife took 
passage out of Galveston in a sailing vessel. From 
that day to this not a word has been heard from 
them, nor has a trace of the vessel ever been found. 

The Episcopal church was organized in 1839, 
and had a fairly good congregation at the very 
start, since there were thirty-nine adherents of that 




FIRST NATIONAL BANK BUILDING 



The City or Houston^ Texas 113 

denomination present at the initial meeting. The 
early services were conducted by laymen and an oc- 
casional itinerant minister, until 1845, when the 
members adopted a constitution, took the name of 
Christ church and determined to erect a house of 
worship. The corner stone for the new building 
was laid in 1846 and the building was consecrated 
by Bishop Freeman, Bishop of Louisiana, May 9, 
1847. There was no regular pastor of Christ 
church for several years, but services were held reg- 
ularly, lay members and an occasional minister of- 
ficiating. 

The old church was torn down and another erect- 
ed on its site in 1859. In 1876 that building was 
torn down to make place for a third church, which 
in turn was demolished in 1893, when the corner 
stone of the present beautiful building was laid. 

Christ church runs the JVIethodist a close race in 
the rapid change of pastors, for up to 1892 there 
had been no less than fifteen regular pastors. That 
year, however, something like permanency was es- 
tablished and Rev. Dr. Henry D. Aves took charge 
of the affairs of the church, both spiritual and tem- 
poral. Its great prosperity dates from his instal- 
lation in office and during the years of his incum- 
bency the most marvelous growth and expansion 
were shown. Dr. Aves became Bishop of Mexico 
and was succeeded by Rev. Dr. Peter Gray Sears, 
who has shown himself to be a worthy successor. 

The First Baptist Church of Houston was or- 
ganized April 10, 1841. The history of this church 



114 A Thumb-Nail History of 



is interesting, for unlike that of the others, its in- 
ception was the result of the untiring efforts of two 
Christian women, Mrs. C. M. Fuller and Mrs. 
Piety L. Hadley. Soon after the organization of 
the church these ladies undertook to buy ground and 
erect a church building. They had no money and 
met with small encouragement even from their fel- 
low church members and members of their own 
famihes. Some one, as a joke, gave them a raw- 
boned mule. This they fattened and sold, thus se- 
curing a nucleus for a building fund. They then 
gave a fair where home-made useful articles were 
sold. The fair and the mule brought them in $450. 
Then they gave another fair, larger than the other, 
and secured an additional $900. With this money 
they purchased the lots on the corner of Texas ave- 
nue and Travis street, where the Milby Hotel now 
stands. During all their labors these ladies had the 
untiring assistance of good old Brother Pilgrim, a 
pious and devout Christian gentleman. 

After purchasing the lots, the ladies wrote to 
Rev. William Tryan and asked him to come and 
take charge of the church, which numbered seven- 
teen members. Dr. Tryan accepted the call, came 
to Houston, and it was through his effort that suf- 
ficient money was obtained to build the first Bap- 
tist church, which stood for many years on the 
southeast corner of Texas avenue and Travis street. 

In 1883 the property was sold and a new church 
was erected in 1883-84. This church was destroyed 
by the great storm in 1900 and another was erected 



The City of Houston, Texas 115 

on the corner of Fannin and Walker in 1903. Rev. 
Dr. J. L. Gross is the present pastor of this church. 

There were Catholic missionaries here in the very 
early days of Houston's existence, but no effort 
was made to establish a regularly organized church 
and to erect a building until 1841, when a French 
priest, Rev. Father Querat, purchased the quarter 
block on the south side of Franklin avenue and Car- 
oline street. Through his efforts sufficient money 
was obtained to put up a small wooden building 
and to build another back of it for a school house 
and home for the priest. For many years this little 
church was used and not until 1869 was an effort 
made to secure larger quarters. In 1869 the old 
church property was sold and a block of ground 
on Texas avenue and Crawford street was pur- 
chased. In 1871 the new church was completed and 
has been occupied ever since. This church is the 
handsome brick building known as the Church of 
the Annunciation, and is one of the most beautiful 
churches in the city. Father Hennessy was pastor 
at the time and has been such all these years, hon- 
ored and respected by both Catholics and Protest- 
ants. 

The whole block is used by the church, the church 
edifice occupying the northwest side, while the re- 
mainder is given over to elegant school and priest 
houses. 

The first German Lutheran church was organized 
in Houston either in 1851 or 1852. This tardy organ- 
ization is somewhat difficult to understand, since 



116 A Thumb-Nall History of 

there were so many Germans among the early citi- 
zens of Houston. In 1853 the church purchased 
the northwest corner of the block on Texas avenue 
and Milam street and erected a very large and im- 
posing frame building on the corner lot. Rev. ^Ir. 
Braun was the pastor, and he also conducted a fine 
German and EngHsh school, using the church 
building for that purpose. Among the members of 
this church were some of the most prominent and 
useful German citizens of Houston. 

About 1875 a second Lutheran church was built 
on Louisiana between Prairie and Preston. Some 
years later both the first and second sites were sold 
and new churches erected elsewhere, one on Texas 
avenue and Caroline street and the other on Wash- 
ington and Young avenue. 

From the earliest days of Houston's existence 
until in the early sixties the Hebrew congregation 
in this city was kept intact through the personal 
exertions of "Father Levy," as the venerable rabbi 
was called. He was a man of great force of charac- 
ter and was honored and respected by everybody 
irrespective of creed or belief. After his death the 
office was filled by a most worthy successor, Rabbi 
Samuel Raphael. Rabbi Raphael had a strenuous 
time during the continuance of the war between the 
States, but through his fine executive ability and 
enthusiastic zeal he managed to keep his congrega- 
tion together and the return of peace found it 
stronger than ever. Rabbi Raphael was a profound 
scholar, an eloquent speaker and a man of great per^ 



The City of Houston^ Texas 117 

sonal magnetism. No man, Jew or Gentile, has ever 
stood higher in this community than he. 

It was five years after the close of the war before 
an effort was made to secure a suitable house of 
worship by this congregation. In 1869 a building 
committee was appointed and in 1870, the corner- 
stone wa« laid for the first Synagogue, which was 
located on Franklin avenue. Two sons of Rabbi 
Raphael, Benjamin and IVIose, were prominent in 
the work of building this first house of worship for 
the conffreo-ation their father had done so much for 
spiritually. 

The corner-stone for the Young Men's Christian 
Association was laid October 17, 1907, and the build- 
ing was formally opened June 21, 1908. The 
building is one of the finest in the city. 

Though it is said the first Christians in Houston 
were forced to hold religious services under the 
wide spreading branches of a tree that grew on 
Market square, their descendants are better provided 
for and today, by actual count, there are sixty-six 
houses of worship in this city, representing all 
shades of faith and belief. Houston is rapidly be- 
coming a city of churches. Following is a list of 
the churches and chapels: 

Methodist — Epworth Methodist Church; Harris- 
burg ^lethodist Episcopal Church; Grace Church, 
Houston Heights; INI'Kee St. Methodist Church; 
First ]Methodist Church ; Trinity Methodist Church ; 
Bering Memorial Church; Washington Avenue 
Methodist Church; First Methodist Church of 



118 A Thumb-Nail History of 

Houston Heights; McAshan Methodist; St. Paul's 
^lethodist Church; Tabernacle Methodist Church; 
Brunner Avenue ]Methodist Church and Eber- 
nezer German Methodist Church. 

Presbyterians — First Presbyterian Church ; First 
Presbyterian Church of Houston Heights; Hardy 
Street Presbyterian Church; Woodland Heights 
Presbyterian Church; Third Presbyterian Church; 
Oak Lawn Presbyterian Church; Second Presby- 
terian Church ; Central Presbyterian Church ; West- 
minister Presbyterian Church; Park Street Chap- 
el ; Market Street Chapel ; Hutchins Street Chapel ; 
Hyde Park Chapel and Blodgett Mission. 

Episcopal — Christ Church; St. Mary's Episco- 
pal Church; Trinity Church; St. John's Church 
and Clemens Memorial Church. 

Baptist — First Baptist Church; Lee Avenue 
Baptist Church; Magnolia Baptist Church; Brun- 
ner Baptist Church; Calvary Baptist Church; Ta- 
bernacle Baptist Church ; Emanuel Baptist Church ; 
Bishop Street Baptist Church ; Tuam Avenue Bap- 
tist Church and Liberty Avenue Baptist Church. 

Catholic — Church of the Annunciation; Sacred 
Heart Church; St. Joseph's Church; Church of 
the Blessed Sacrament and St. Patrick's Church. 

Christian Church — Houston Heights Christian 
Church; Central Christian Church; Second Christ- 
ian Church. 

Apostolic Faith — Clark Street Mission; Brun- 
ner Tabernacle. 



The City of Houston, Texas 119 

Lutheran — Trinity Evangelical L u t h e ran 
Church and First German Evangelical Lutheran 
Church. 

Christian Science — First Church of Christ Scien- 
tist. 

Congregational — First Congregational Church. 

Evangelical Association — The Oak Lawn 
Church. 

Church of Christ — First Church of Christ. 

Spiritualist — The Spiritualists have a large so- 
ciety in Houston and hold regular meetings every 
Sunday. 



CHAPTER SEVEN. 

Some Military History — Houston Companies Dur- 
ing the War — Sketch of the "World Beating" 
Light Guard — Other Military Companies. 

Houston following so close on the heels of the 
Texas revolution, it is not surprising to learn that 
there was a strong martial spirit among its citizens 
and that they should be willing and eager to em- 
bark in any military movement that had about it 
active or prospective active service. Governor 
Lubbock mentions in his Memoirs that there were 
two military companies in Houston in the very 
early days. One of these, to which he belonged, 
saw service against the Indians, but there is noth- 
ing to show that the other had active service. These 
companies were what would be called State troops 
today. In the early fifties there were two mili- 
tary companies here, one the Washington Light 
Guards which held at that time very much the same 
place that the Houston Light Guard holds today. 
The other was the Milam Rifles organized after the 
Washington Light Guards had been in service for 
some time, and organized for the purpose of taking 
away from the Washington Light Guards the 
honors they had won, which were principally the 
smiles and admiration of the ladies. The two com- 
panies were about socially equal and there was in- 
tense rivalry between them, which occasionally led 
to personal collisions between the individual mem- 
bers. On one occasion, during a target contest be- 
tween the two companies on San Jacinto Day, there 



The City of Houston^ Texas 121 

came near being something of a general riot because 
a lieutenant of one company and a private of the 
other went to war on their own account over a dis- 
puted score. 

When the war broke out, instead of entering the 
Confederate army as organizations, these two com- 
panies disbanded and the individual members join- 
ed new companies that were organized. The great 
bulk of the members of the Washington Light 
Guards joined the Bayou City Guards which after- 
wards earned such glory in the Army of Northern 
Virginia under Lee, known officially as Company 
A, 5th Texas Regiment, Hood's Brigade. In fact 
so many of the old company joined the Bayou 
City Guards that it was practically the old com- 
pany itself. Other members of both companies 
joined a cavalry company raised by the late Major 
Ike StaiFord for service on the Rio Grande, which 
was the very first company to leave for the front 
at the breaking out of the war. The Captain of 
the Washington Light Guards, Captain Edwards, 
raised still another company of infantry, while 
Captain Ed Riodan took some of the members of 
the INIilam Rifles and with them as a nucleus form- 
ed a splendid company of infantry. It is doubtful 
if there was a single member of either of the two 
original companies who did not volunteer in some 
of the companies that left Houston in 1861. 

At that time there was a boys' military company 
here, something on the order of the High School 
Cadets of today. This company was commanrlod 



122 A Thumb-Nail History of 

by Captain W. M. Stafford, now of Galveston. 
When the war broke out Captain Stafford and 
most of the older boys entered the Confedeiate 
army. Captain Stafford was made a lieutenant 
in an artillery company and rose soon after to the 
rank of Captain, he being, perhaps, the youngest 
captain in command of a battery in the Confeder- 
ate service. 

Another company that distinguished itself dur- 
ing the war was the Houston Turners, composed 
almost, if not entirely, of members of the Turn- 
verein association. This company was organized 
and commanded by Captain E. B. H. Schneider 
and saw much active service, giving a good account 
of itself on several bloody fields. 

The Confederate Grays was a fine infantry com- 
pany from Houston that saw much active service, 
first at Shiloh under Johnston and afterwards in the 
campaign in Mississippi and at Vicksburg. After 
the capture of Vicksburg they were exchanged and 
transferred to this side of the river. 

When the war began it was looked on as a joke 
and there was much joking at the enthusiastic 
eagerness of the young men to get to the front. 
The Bayou City Guards was christened "The 
kid glove gentry," and when the company was 
ordered to Camp Van Dorn, below Harrisburg, 
for the purpose of being mustered into the service, 
preparatory to going to Virginia, INIr. T. W. 
House, Sr., sent them a big box of white kid gloves. 
The members put them on their bayonets and 



The City of Houston, Texas 123 

marched up Main street with them thus displayed. 
Afterwards when the accomplishments of this com- 
pany in the army of Northern Virginia began tn 
be known and bragged about, Mr. House was very 
proud of the "Kid glove gentry," and told fre- 
quently of how he had fitted them out for war with 
kid gloves. 

Having had four years of actual warfare there 
was not much martial spirit left in the young men 
who returned home after the surrender, consequently 
there was no talk of organizing a company of play 
soldiers and the average returned veteran would 
shy at the sight of a sword or musket. However, 
there was a new crop of young men coming to the 
front and in 1873 some of these got together and 
organized the Houston Light Guard, a mihtary 
company destined to shed as much honor and fame 
on Houston during peace times as the others had 
done during war. The Houston Light Guard was 
organized April 21, 1873. Captain Fairfax Gray, 
a member of the United States Navy before the 
war and a distinguished officer in the Confederate 
army, was the first Captain of the company. For 
some reason the members soon lost interest and the 
organization practically ceased to exist. There were 
no meetings held from the first one until late in the 
fall of the same year, when some of the most zeal- 
ous of the young men got together and determined 
to reorganize the company. This they did, elect- 
ing J. R. Coffin captain. From that meeting dates 
the success of the Light Guard. Captain Coffin 



124 A Thumb-Nail History of 

began regular drills and soon had the company in 
such form as to make a creditable showing as sol- 
diers. The boys purchased uniforms, which were 
Confederate gray, and appeared in them for the 
first time in the great carnival of King Comus in 
February, 1874. 

Four months later when the May Volksfest was 
held the Light Guard entered their first competi- 
tive drill, meeting four companies from outside 
points. The entering was all they did for they got 
no prize, but did get experience. 

The next year under Captain Joe Rice they won 
their first prize at the Austin drill, it being a sword 
valued at $500. 

About that time there seems to have been a gen- 
eral revival of the martial spirit throughout the 
country and each city strove to secure a crack mili- 
tary company. All over the South and in many 
of the Northern and Western cities military com- 
panies were formed. While there was lots of pleas- 
ure and sport in indulging in this fad it was very 
expensive, since the heavy expense fell on the indi- 
vidual members. Each company paid its own 
traveling expenses, for its uniforms and for every 
thing except its guns which were furnished by the 
State government. Interstate drills became all the 
rage and in 1881 the Houston Light Guard entered 
its first one at New Orleans where it competed 
against some of the crack companies of the South. 
The Light Guard took fourth prize, $500. 



The City of Houston, Texas 125 

Their next appearance was in 1882 at the Inter- 
state drill that was held at Nashville, Tenn. There 
were five companies competing and the Light 
Guard took fourth prize again. However, they 
had the satisfaction of beating the Lawrence Rifles, 
a company that had come all the way from Boston, 
Mass. Beating that Boston company gave them 
the only bit of satisfaction they had. 

However, the Light Guard were as strong in de- 
feat as they afterwards proved themselves to be in 
the hour of victory. Captain Thomas Scurry was 
their commander and he determined to make them 
world-beaters, and did so before he completed his 
work. In the face of two or more failures they be- 
came more determined than ever and they were loy- 
ally backed by the business men of Houston. 

In 1884 the business men raised a large sum of 
money to be used as prizes and to paj^ other ex- 
penses and issued invitations to all the military com- 
panies in the United States to come to Houston 
for a great interstate drill. A number of crack com- 
panies promptly accepted the invitation. The War 
Department at Washington appointed three army 
officers to attend the drill, act as judges and make 
a report of results to the Department. Mr. H. 
Baldwin Rice was appointed manager of the drill, 
which took place at the Fair Grounds, where now 
stands the "Fair Grounds Addition." The drill 
lasted a week. The first prize was $5,000. From 
that sum the prizes were reduced so that the last 
prize was only about one-quarter of that amount. 



126 A Thumb-Nail History of 

There was a State as well as an Interstate drill held 
at the same time. In the Interstate drill were such 
companies as the Treadway Rifles of St. Louis ; the 
Columbus Guards of Columbus, Ga.; the Mont- 
gomery Greys of Montgomery, Ala. ; the Washing- 
ton Guards of Galveston, Texas, and the Houston 
Light Guard. The Houston Light Guard put up 
one of the most perfect drills that had ever been wit- 
nessed. They took first prize easily as the following 
report of the army officers who were judges, shows: 
Omitting figures grading the various parts of the 
drill the totals were as follows; 

Houston Light Guard, 2.66; Treadway Rifles, 
2.55; Columbus Guards, 2.35; JNIobile Rifles, 2.29; 
Montgomery Greys, 2.28; Washington Guards, 
1.95. A perfect drill would have given 3.00, the 
maximum score. 

To show how perfectly the Light Guard drilled, 
the following extract from the report of the judges 
is given: 

"Houston Light Guard — It is observed that the 
inspection was nearly perfect. The appearance of 
the men in their dress, arms and accoutrements and 
their neatness, exceeded anything we have seen any- 
where — each man like a color man at the United 
States Military Academy at West Point. Captain 
Scurry had not proceeded far in the programme 
when, while wheeling his company from column of 
twos, improperly, the company was placed in a posi- 
tion from which it was almost impossible to extri- 
cate it, except as done, exhibiting great presence of 
mind on the captain's part. 



The City of Houston, Texas 127 

"Captain Scurry's appreciation of the pro- 
gramme and its requirements was superior to that 
of the other commanders. 

"The ground was laid out with the view to testing 
the length and cadence of the step in quick and 
double time. A company marching as contem- 
plated in the method applied would take the fol- 
lowing number of steps in quick and double time, 
and in the time specified. In quick time, 284 steps 
in 2 minutes and 35 seconds; in double time, 284 
steps in one minute and 26 seconds. The Houston 
Light Guard made the following record : In quick 
time, 283 steps in 2 minutes and 35 seconds; in 
double time, '1 minute and 27. Aside from all prac- 
tice in this particular, the result was almost phe- 
nomenal. Captain Scurry was the only one who 
marched upon the flag with guide to the left as di- 
rected by the judges." 

The Houston Light Guard generously offered to 
turn over the $5,000 first prize to the visiting com- 
panies to help pay their expenses, but the offer was 
refused with thanks, of course. 

During 1885 the Houston Light Guard, under 
the able leadership of Captain Scurry, won three 
first prizes in interstate contests. These footed up 
$12,000. The first was at Mobile, Alabama, in May 
and the second a few days later in New Orleans. 
The third was in Philadelphia in July at the great 
drill that was held in Fairmount Park. In this drill 
and encampment nearly every section of the coun- 
try was represented, there being seventy-five com- 



128 A Thumb-Nail History of 

panics there, about one-half of them entering the 
interstate contest. The Houston Light Guard was 
an easy winner, the judges stating that there was 
enough room between their score and that of their 
nearest competitor to place three or four companies. 

From Philadelphia the company went to New 
York, where they were royally entertained by the 
famous New York regiments. It is only an act of 
justice to give here the names of the officers and 
men who made the Houston Light Guard "World 
Beaters." They were: 

Captain, Thos. Scurry; 1st Lieutenant, F. A. 
Reichardt; 2nd Lieutenant, T. H. Franklin; 3rd 
Lieutenant, Spencer Hutchins; Quartermaster, W. 
A. Childress; Surgeon, Dr. S. O. Young; 1st Ser- 
geant, George L. Price; 2nd Sergeant, R. A. 
Scurry; 1st Corporal, H. D. Tajdor; 2nd Corporal, 
W. K. Mendenhall; 3rd Corporal, George N. Tor- 
rey. 

Privates — Byers, Barnett, Bates, Bull, Byres, 
Cook, Dealy, Foss, Golihart, Hodgson, Hutchins, 
Heyer, Reynaud, Swanson, Johnson, Journey, Wil- 
son, R. Kattman, E. Kattman, Lewis, ^lahoney, 
Mitchell, McKeever, Powell, Randolph, Steel, Saw- 
yer, Sharpe, Tyler, Taft, Taylor, Torrey, Wisby. 
Perpetual drummer, John Sessums (colored). 

The next great victory of the Light Guard was 
at Galveston in 1886, where they took the first prize, 
a purse of $4,500, in competition with such com- 
panies as the Montgomery True Blues, San An- 
tonio Rifles, Branch Guards of St. Louis, Company 




THE BENDER HOTEL 



The City of Houston^ Texas 129 

F, Louisville Legion and Belknap Rifles of San 
Antonio. That drill of the Light Guard was the 
most perfect ever witnessed in the United States 
and excited widespread wonder and admiration 
among military men and the general public. 

The Light Guard went to Austin in 1888 and 
took first prize, $5,000, in competition with some of 
the crack companies of the United States. The 
next year Galveston had another great interstate 
drill and in order to not bluff off other companies 
the Galveston people barred the Houston Light 
Guard, thus paying them the highest compliment 
they ever received. They gave the Light Guard 
a special prize of $500 for an exhibition drill. 

The Houston Light Guard showed that they 
were not merely fancy soldiers when the war with 
Spain began. They volunteered promptly and un- 
der command of Captain George McCormick, went 
to the front. They saw service in Florida and Cuba. 
When peace negotiations began, Captain ISIcCor- 
mick returned home and R. A. Scurry became cap- 
tain of the company, returning home with it soon 
after. The Light Guard owns its armory, the hand- 
somest in the State. It was paid for partly with 
money won as prizes and partly by issuing bonds. 
The property, being in the business section of the 
city, has become extremely valuable and could be 
disposed of today at many times its cost to the com- 
pany. 

The following are the captains who have com- 
manded the Houston Light Guard from its organi- 



130 A Thumb-Nail History of 

zation to the present day: Fairfax Gray, John 
Coffin, Joe S. Rice, George Price, James S. Ba- 
ker, Jr., Thomas Scurry, F. A. Reichardt, George 
McCormick, R. A. Scurry, C. Hutchinson, Milby 
Porter and Dallas J. Mathews, the present able cap- 
tain. 

Troop A has always been the crack troop of 
cavalry of the Texas National Guards. This is a 
Houston company and during the war with Spain 
was part of the First Texas Cavalry, United States 
Volunteers. 

The Jeff Miller Rifles, which belonged to the 
Second Infantry regiment, was also a noted com- 
pany, that saw service during the skirmish with 
Spain. 



CHAPTER EIGHT. 

Houston's First Sawmill — The First Cotton Com- 
press — Early Foundries — Ice Making — Meat 
Packeries — The Big Establishments of Today. 

While there was quite a large sawmill and grist- 
mill, blacksmith shop and lumber yard at Harris- 
burg, estabhshed there by Mr. Robert Wilson, the 
father of the late Mr. Jas. T. D. Wilson, who came 
to Texas in 1828, it would not be exactly fair to 
claim these as the first Houston manufacturing en- 
terprises. The first, strictly Houston concern in 
the manufacturing line, if a sawmill falls under 
that head, was the old sawmill that stood just about 
where the Milam street bridge crosses Buffalo 
Bayou. That mill was built in the early forties. 

Mr. Elim Stockbridge built a cornmeal mill at 
the foot of Texas avenue in 1844. The INIorning 
Star was greatly pleased with this evidence of prog- 
ress and gave quite a glowing account of the mo- 
tive power which was three oxen on a treadmill. 

During the same year Mr. N. T. Davis erected 
the first compress in Houston. The ^lorning Star 
speaking of this compress in its issue of March 11, 
1844, says: "A few days ago we visited the cotton 
compress lately erected in this city by INIr. N. T. 
Davis, and were agreeably surprised to find that 
the machine used for compressing cotton bales ad- 
mirably answers the purposes for which it was con- 
structed. With the aid of only two hands, ^Ir. 
Davis can compress a bale of 500 pounds into a 



132 A Thumb-Nail History of 

space only 22 inches square in 15 minutes. The fa- 
cihty with which the work is done is truly surpris- 
ing." Since the best modern compress can turn 
out a 500-pound bale compressed into a space of 
22 cubic feet, it is evident that the editor of the Star 
got his notes mixed when he wrote of "22 square 
inches." 

In 1845 there was a rope-walk on the block now 
owned by the Houston Turnverein. It was used 
for manufacturing rope until about 1853 or 54. The 
first iron foundry was established in Houston in 
1851 by Mr. Alex McGowan on the north side of 
Buffalo Bayou and on the banks of White Oak 
Bayou. For the first year or two its principal work 
was in making kettles for the sugar plantations near 
here and in constructing light machinery for farm 
and plantation use. However, after the Houston 
and Texas Central road began operation the work 
of the foundry increased and it was kept busy doing 
repair work for the road. For several years this 
foundry was the largest and best in Texas and did 
an immense amount of all kinds of foundry w^ork. 
Even during the war it was enabled to continue a 
regular foundry business, something that others 
were not able or willing to do. About 1858 or 59, 
one of the best and most expert foundrymen in the 
business came here from the North. This was INIr. 
Cushman, the owner and manager of Cushman's 
Foundry, which was located on the south side of 
the west end of Preston avenue bridge. INIr. Cush- 
man put up extensive buildings and established suit- 



The City of Houston, Texas 133 

able machinery for doing all kinds of pattern-mak- 
ing and foundry work. About the time he got 
everything going smoothly, the war came on and as 
his workmen volunteered almost to a man, in the 
Confederate army, he was left with an expensive 
plant on his hands and no labor to use it. He strug- 
gled along in a hap-hazzard way for awhile and then 
converted his plant into an arsenal and began man- 
ufacturing cannon, shells and such things for the 
Confederate government. The commander of this 
department detailed skilled mechanics to do the 
work and before long Cushman's Foundry became 
one of the most important concerns in the State. 
After the war Mr. Cushman restored his plant to 
its original use and did a large foundry business 
for many years, finally disposing of the plant. 

Perhaps the most successful manufacturing en- 
terprise from an insignificant beginning is the Dick- 
son Car Wheel Works. When Mr. Dickson first 
announced that he was going to manufacture car 
wheels here he was laughed at and certain defeat 
was predicted. He persisted, however, and today 
the Dickson Car Wheel Works are among the 
largest and most profitable establishments of that 
character in the South. There is a steady and con- 
stantly growing demand for their output. 

The first artificial ice made in Houston was at a 
plant established by Dr. Pearl, who was associated 
with two young Englishmen. These gentlemen 
established an ice-making plant and also a meat 
packery on the Bayou below the city in 1869. Lack 



134 A Thumb-Nail History of 

of experience, being rather in advance of the times 
and other causes combined to frustrate their designs 
and after a year or two of hopeless struggle the 
plant proved a failure and went out of business in 
1873. 

During 1875, Mr. E. W. Taylor and one or two 
associates bought some of the abandoned machin- 
ery of the Pearl plant and established a regular 
packery. The next year Mr. Geiselman estab- 
lished another packery, and both of them did a good 
business for some years. The transportation facili- 
ties were unsatisfactory and that limited the field 
of operation of the two plants to such an extent 
that both voluntarily went out of business. Not 
until 1894 did Houston come to the front as a pack- 
ing house center. That year the Houston Packing 
Company's plant was established here. This is the 
largest independent packing house in the United 
States and does a business of about $4,000,000 an- 
nually. 

Both the Swift and Armour companies main- 
tain branches here and own their own buildings. 

Every large packing house in the United States 
has either a branch office or agency in Houston, 
being induced to come here by Houston's admira- 
ble facilities for receiving and distributing their 
products. 

The packing house part of the Pearl plant hav- 
ing been, in a measure, resurrected through the ef- 
forts of Mr. Taylor and his associates, one would 
have supposed that attention would have been given 



The City of Houston^ Texas 135 

to ice-making also. That was not true, however, for 
it was not until 1880 that an ice manufacturing 
plant was established. That was the Central Ice 
Company, organized by Mr. Hugh Hamilton. The 
first machinery was a dilapidated and abandoned 
ice machine. This is today one of the largest and 
most successful plants in the State. The American 
Brewing Company is another large and flourishing 
concern. It was chartered in 1894 and its principal 
owner is INIr. A. Busch of St. Louis. 

Today Houston has a number of large ice-mak- 
ing plants, the chief being the Houston Packing 
Company, the Henke Artesian Ice and Refriger- 
ating Company, the Crystal Ice and Fuel Company 
and the Irvin Ice Factory. , 

Shortly after the close of the war one or two at- 
tempts were made to establish cotton mills here. 
Not until 1872 was the movement successful. In 
that year the City Cotton Mills were erected in 
the Second ward. Mr. B. A. Shepherd was the 
principal stockholder, owning slightly more than 
half of the stock. The mill was just beginning to 
do a good business, when, in August, 1875, it was 
destroyed by fire. The loss was complete, being 
$200,000, with no insurance. 

A few years later Mr. E. H. Cushing and Mr. 
James F. Dumble started another cotton mill out 
at Eureka, five miles from Houston on the Hous- 
ton & Texas Central railroad, but after a struggling 
existence of a year or two, they were forced to 
abandon the undertaking. 



136 A Thumb-Nail History of 

From that time until 1903 no further attempt 
was made to build cotton or textile mills here. How- 
ever, in 1903, the Oriental Textile Mills were estab- 
lished, and this institution now ranks among the 
largest and most successful textile mills in the 
United States. 

At the close of the war there were several small 
wagon and vehicle manufacturing concerns estab- 
lished here, and there were also one or two planing 
mills and sash factories. The planing mills and 
sash factories of Bering & Cortes and of Henry 
House were the principal ones, and both did an im- 
mense business. As remarked, the manufacture of 
wagons, while one of the earliest of Houston's 
manufacturing enterprises, was never carried on 
extensively until a year or two ago, when in 1910, 
the EUer Wagon Works were established here. 
This concern does an immense business and manu- 
factures heavy trucks, oil-tank wagons and such 
things, which are distributed over the State. 

Aside from having several skillful cabinet makers 
who did fine work, but only in a small way, no at- 
tention was paid to the manufacture of furniture 
on a large scale until in 1904, when the Myers- 
Spalti Company established their plant here. This 
is one of the largest and most prosperous plants of 
its kind in the country. The firm makes any and 
everything in the way of furniture, and employ 
only the best and most expert workmen. They 
have branch offices in all the leading markets, and 
the amount of their business is immense. 



The City of Houston, Texas 137 

A fact not generally known is that Houston has 
the only piano and organ manufacturing plant in 
the South. It was established here in 1909 and is 
now doing a good and lucrative business, the work 
turned out by them being of the highest order of 
excellence. 

Houston's standing and importance as a manu- 
facturing point are well shown by the United States 
Census Report. Following are the figures for 
Houston, for 1909, the year when the figures were 
taken by the government : 

Number of estabhshments, 249; capital invested, 
$16,594,000; cost of material used, $14,321,000; 
salaries and wages, $4,254,000; miscellaneous ex- 
penses, $1,942,000; value of products, $23,016,000; 
value added by manufacture, $8,695,000; number 
of salaried officers and clerks, 725; average num- 
ber of wage earners, 5338; total number of steam 
laundries, '9; capital invested in laundries, $270,- 
000; cost of material used, $74,000; salaries and 
wages, $256,000; miscellaneous expenses, $129,000; 
value of products, $500,000; number of salaried 
officers and clerks, 34; average number of wage 
earners, 422. 

When the government figures were taken in 
1909 comparison was made with those of 1904 to 
show percentage of increase and decrease. The 
comparisons for Houston are as follows: 

Increase in cost of material used, 88 per cent ; in- 
crease in capital invested, 87 per cent; increase in 
number of salaried officers and clerks, 75 per cent; 



138 A Thumb-Nail History of 

increase in miscellaneous expenses, 72 per cent; in- 
crease in value of products, 70 per cent; increase 
in value added by manufacture, 46 per cent; in- 
crease in salaries and wages, 24 per cent; increase 
in number of establishments, 19 per cent; increase 
in average number of wage earners employed dur- 
ing the year, 6 per cent. 

In many ways Houston is an ideal point for man- 
ufacturing enterprises. An inexhaustible supply 
of the purest artesian water can be obtained any- 
where in or for miles around the city, while the 
question of fuel is almost as easily solved, since 
Houston is just on the edge of the great oil field 
and is connected by pipe lines with all the fields as 
far north as Oklahoma. Water can be had at the 
small cost of sinking a well, while there is an abund- 
ance of the best and cheapest fuel. When to these 
advantages is added the superb transportation fa- 
cilities possessed by Houston, it is surprising that 
there are not a hundred-fold more great manufac- 
turing enterprises here than there are. 



CHAPTER NINE. 

Early Literary Efforts — Splendid Work Done by 
the Ladies — Sketch of the Houston Lyceum 
and the Carnegie Library — Labor Organizations 
and Their Work. 

Perhaps no city in the United States had among 
its early settlers so many prominent and distin- 
guished men as had Houston. As a rule, new cities 
as well as new countries are settled by pioneers who 
are distinguished more for their brawn and muscle 
than for their culture and intelligence. Hard 
work, requiring strength and endurance counts for 
more in a new country than courtly manners and 
scientific ability. These latter belong rather to the 
children of pioneers than to the pioneers them- 
selves. Houston affords a striking exception to 
this rule, for among her early settlers were some of 
the greatest, most prominent and intellectual men 
in America. This was as true of the foreign ele- 
ment as of the native-born Americans; in fact the 
latter, as a whole, contrasted rather unfavorably 
with the distinguished Germans who were among 
the first settlers. While the Americans excelled, 
naturally, in statecraft and in the legal and med- 
ical professions, being far more accustomed to the 
needs, requirements and customs of this country than 
their foreign /riends and associates, yet the latter 
contributed more largely to the arts, sciences and 
general literature and thus, between the two, Hous- 



140 A Thumb-Nail History of 

ton was placed on a most advantageous plane at the 
very beginning. 

It must not be supposed that the learned profes- 
sions, the arts or anything that related to literature 
occupied the stage to the exclusion of everything 
else, for that was far from true. There were lots 
of typical pioneers, rough men, but all men; and 
in addition to these there were typical "bad men" 
and toughs. These latter were in a woeful minority 
and in the mass of citizens, were too few and insig- 
nificant to stamp their individuality on the com- 
munity. 

While Houston and Galveston have always been 
strong business rivals and have never failed to give 
each other commercial black eyes when opportunity 
presented, still the people of both cities have always 
been the best of friends in a social way and have 
done much good for each other. The first Hterary 
society, lyceum or what ever it was called, in Texas 
was located in Galveston in the early forties. While 
nominally a Galveston institution this society was 
loyally supported by Houstonians who contributed 
legularly to the monthly entertainments that were 
given. 

In 1848 the Houston Lyceum was chartered. 
Almost before it was born it went to sleep and did 
not wake until 1854. That year it was revived and 
showed considerable animation for awhile but soon 
lapsed into inocuous desuetude. At that time 382 
volumes had been gotten together and a bookcase 
had been purchased. 



The City of Houston, Texas 141 

For a short time considerable interest was taken 
in the affairs of the Lyceum by the gentlemen hav- 
ing its management in hand, but these soon grew 
weary and the Lyceum was allowed to die again. 
During the war nothing was, or could be, done, but 
at the close of the war an attempt was made to re- 
vive interest in it, but with only partial success. 
Spasmodic attempts were made to establish the 
Lyceum firmly on its feet, but it was not until 1895 
that such an attempt was crowned with success. 
In that year jNIrs. Looscan, president of the La- 
dies Reading Club, brought that Club to the assist- 
ance of the Lyceum. Every member of the Club 
became a member of the Lyceum and the books 
were removed to a room in the INIason building. 
Through the efforts of these ladies the city offi- 
cials were induced to give official recognition to 
the Lyceum in 1899 and to make an appropria- 
tion of $200 monthly for its support. The next 
year Mr. Carnegie gave $50,000 for a building 
fund, providing the city would donate a suitable 
building site. The conditions were complied with 
and the present library building was formally 
opened to the public in March, 1904.. In 1900 the 
Houston Lyceum and Carnegie Association was 
chartered and took the place of the old Houston 
Lyceum. About the same time Mr. N. S. ISIel- 
drum endowed the children's department with 
$6,000 as a memorial to Norma Meldrum. 

Miss Julia Ideson, the librarian, stated in her re- 
port for 1904 that there had been 59,751 books with- 



142 A Thumb-Nail History of 

drawn from the library for home use. At that 
time there were between eight and nine thousand 
volumes in the library. In her report for the mu- 
nicipal year ending February 29, 1912, Miss Ideson 
says: "The circulation from the main library 
amounted to 102,580 volumes, an increase of more 
than 8,000 volumes over the circulation of last year. 
In addition to the above 5,177 books have been dis- 
tributed through the other distributing agencies." 

There were in the library May 1, 1911, 31,678 
volumes. During the year just closed there was a 
net gain of 3,657 volumes making the total number 
of volumes in the library May 1, 1912, 35,426. 

The officers of the Houston Lyceum and Carne- 
gie Library Association are: Mr. E. L. Dennis, 
president; Mrs. H. F. Ring, vice-president; ]Mrs. 
I. S. Meyer, secretary; Mrs. E. N. Gray, treasurer; 
Mrs. E. Raphael, corresponding secretary, and 
Miss Julia Ideson, librarian. 

The Ladies Reading Club, organized in 1885 by 
Mrs. M. Looscan and Mrs. C. ^I. Lombardi, is the 
oldest and largest of Houston's purely literary 
clubs. 

The Ladies Shakespeare Club was organized in 
1890 with Mesdames E. Raphael, I. G. Gerson, I. 
Blandin, Blanche Booker and Misses C. R. Red- 
wood, Lydia Adkisson and JNIary Light as charter 
members. This club has kept its organization and 
has been in active existence since its formation. 

Another Shakespeare Club was organized in 1904 
by Mrs. A. G. Howell, Mrs. J. W. Lockett and 



The City of Houston^ Texas 143 

Mrs. J. W. Carter. This club is very active and 
great interest is taken by its members in the work 
they have outlined for themselves. 

Perhaps the most interesting of the women's 
clubs in Houston is the Current Literature Club, 
which was organized in 1899 by Mrs. Si Packard. 
The club was originally organized for the purpose 
of reading current novels and light literature, but 
the members soon grew ambitious and more substan- 
tial books were taken up and discussed, until to- 
day the club represents through its members the 
cultured literary taste of Houston. 

The Houston Pen Womens' Association was or- 
ganized in 1906 by eighteen ladies who met at the 
residence of IVIrs. WilHam Christian for the purpose 
of forming an association composed of ladies en- 
gaged in newspaper and literary work. JNIrs. Eliza- 
abeth Strong Tracy was chosen as the first presi- 
dent and Mrs. Dancey as first secretary. The mem- 
bership consists of historians, poets, authors, journ- 
alists and newspaper workers and the association has 
been wonderfully successful, showing a consistent 
growth and influence ever since the day of its or- 
ganization. 

A Chapter of the Daughters of the American 
Revolution was organized in Houston in 1899 by 
Mrs. Seabrook W. Sydnor, who had been appointed 
regent by the general organization. The chapter 
took the names of Lady Washington Chapter. The 
organization has been in active operation since its 
organization and has accomplished a great deal in 



144 A Thumb-Nail History of 

the way of patriotic work. San Jacinto Chapter 
No. 2, Daughters of the RepubUc of Texas, was 
organized in 1901. The chapter has accompHshed 
a wonderful amount of valuable work, having for 
its object the perpetuation of the memory of those 
who fought for Texas' independence, and has col- 
lected valuable historical data. This chapter has 
taken under its care San Jacinto battlefield and has 
marked with suitable monuments and tablets, his- 
torical points and localities associated with early 
Texas history. 

Robert E. Lee Chapter, 186, United Daughters 
of the Confederacy, was organized in 1897 and 
Oran M. Roberts Chapter, 440, United Daugh- 
ters of the Confederacy, was organized in 
1901. Each chapter has a large membership and 
their meetings are always largely attended. Since 
their organization they have accomplished much 
good, both in the way of collecting and preserving 
historical data and in looking after indigent and 
disabled Confederate veterans. 

There are a great many charitable, musical and 
literary associations in Houston, nearly every one 
having been organized and kept alive by the ladies. 
Nearly all the societies, in the beginning, had meet- 
ing places of their own, but since the completion of 
the Library building nearly all of them meet in the 
elegant quarters provided for that purpose, by the 
Library Association. 

The Labor associations of Houston are numer- 
ous and are thoroughly organized. The following 




HARRIS COUNTY COURT HOUSE 



The City of Houston, Texas 145 

facts are taken from a statement published by Mr. 
Max Andrew, editor of the Labor Journal: 

The total number of industrial workers in Hous- 
ton is 25,000, graded as follows: JMen, 15,000; 
women, 6,000; children fifteen years and under, 
4,000. Organized: Men, 55 per cent; women, 2 
per cent. 

Of the skilled trades, S5 per cent are organized 
and 15 per cent unorganized. 

During the last ten years the hours of labor have 
been decreased, all along the line, from ten hours to 
eight hours. 

During the last ten years there has been an aver- 
age increase in wages of 25 per cent. However, 
against that increase is placed the increased cost of 
living which amounts to 40 per cent. 

The total number of organized men and women in 
Houston is 8,250. The plumbers, printers, brick- 
masons, plasterers, stone-cutters and marble cutters 
are the best organized of any of the crafts. All 
trades hmit the number of apprentices. This has 
done much towards maintaining a hving wage for 
the journeyman. 

Public sentiment and feeling towards union labor 
in this city and community is very favorable and all 
important work is done by union labor. 

Since the general public has only a vague idea of 
labor matters and of the conditions that prevail in 
labor circles, the following extracts are taken from 
Mr. Andrew's article, as matters of useful infor- 



146 A Thumb-Nail History of 

mation. The following are the working conditions 
that prevail in various branches of labor, both or- 
ganized and unorganized ; 

Packing House — Number of employed, men and 
children, 500. Wages, for men, $1.50 to $2.00 per 
day; for women, 75 cents to $2.00 per day; for 
children, 50 cents to $1.00 per day. No Sunday 
work. Little opportunity for training or educa- 
tional advancement. Employes not organized. 

In the railroad shops and yards, there are about 
4,000 employed. About 25 per cent of laborers work 
on Sundays. Conditions very good for training and 
educational advancement. Average wage for all 
employes about $2.50 per day. Ninety per cent of 
workers organized. 

In the cotton-oil mills and compresses there are 
about 1,500 employed. Wages of men, $1.50 to 
$2.50 per day; for women, $1.00 to $1.25 per day; 
for children, 50 cents to 75 cents per day. Work 
covers only six months of the year. No opportunity 
for training or educational advancement. Condi- 
tions far in advance of those found in other South- 
ern States. 

In the saw mills and factories the number of em- 
ployes is 500. Wages for skilled men, $2.50 to 
$3.00 per day; unskilled men, 75 cents to $1.75 per 
day; women, 50 cents to $1.00 per day; children, 
25 cents to 75 cents per day. Little opportunity for 
training or educational advancement. About 105 
organized. 

In the general stores there are about 3,000 em- 



The City of Houston, Texas 147 

ployed. Wages for men, $5.00 to $18.00 per week; 
women, $3.50 to $10 per week; children, $1.50 to 
$5.00 per week. Conditions deplorable, for not one 
in a thousand of the employees has the slightest 
chance for training or educational advancement. 
Unless the general pubKc interferes Houston will 
soon parallel the large cities where young woman- 
hood is sacrificed at the altar of greed and avarice. 
This labor is unorganized. 

There are about 500 employed at the breweries. 
Working conditions exceptionably good. Wages 
range from $2.00 to $5.00 per day. Hours of labor 
eight per day. The breweries operate 24 hours per 
day, labor being divided into three shifts of eight 
hours each. Employees thoroughly organized. All 
workmen in the breweries, where steadily em- 
ployed, must join the Brewers Union. 

There are about 5,000 common laborers in Hous- 
ton. Wages, for men $1.25 to $2.00 per day; 
women, 50 cents to $1.25 per day; children, 25 
cents to $1.00 per day. Only about 10 per cent of 
these laborers are organized. 

There are about 3,000 employed in the industrial 
crafts. That is in addition to those working in rail- 
road shops, mills, etc. 

Carpenters and Joiners. — Approximately 75 per 
cent organized. Wages, union, $4.00 per day; 
non-union, $3.50 per day. Educational and train- 
ing conditions fine. No Sunday work. Steady 
employment the year round. 

Plasterers. — Conditions good. Ninety per cent 



148 A Thumb-Nail History of 

organized. Wages, union men, $6.00 per day ; non- 
union men, $3.50 per day. No Sunday work. 

Sheetmetal Workers. — Steady work the whole 
year. Wages, union men, $3.50 to $4.50 per day. 
Non-union men, lower. About 905 of the craft 
organized. 

Brickmasons. — Conditions fine. Wages, union 
men, $6.00 to $7.00 per day; non-union men, $3.00 
to $4.00 per day. About 95 per cent organized. 

Machinists. — Steady work all the year. Wages, 
union men, $3,80 per day; non-union men, $2.50 
per day. 

Theatrical Stage Employes. — Conditions reason- 
ably good. Wages range from $15.00 to $25.00 
per week. Sunday, as well as every day, work. 

Blacksmiths. — About 65 per cent organized. 
Wages, union men, $3.80 per day; non-union men, 
$2.50 per day. 

Lathers. — Steady employment. Wages, union 
men, $4.00 to $6.00 per day; non-union men, $2.50 
per day. 

Printers. — Thoroughly organized. Wages, $3.50 
to $8.00 per day, according to men and position. 
About 75 per cent of the printers are home owners. 

Pressmen. — Thoroughly organized. Wages, 
$3.50 per day. There are also many home owners 
among the pressmen. 

Bookbinders. — Thoroughly organized. Work 
eight hours per day. Wages, $4.00 per day. 



The City of Houston, Texas 149 

Electrical Workers. — About 80 per cent organ- 
ized. Wages, $3.50 to $4.50 per day. All members 
at work. 

Bartenders. — About 80 per cent organized. 
Wages $15.00 to $21.00 per week. 

Tailors. — Poorly organized. Hours of labor, ten 
hours per day. Wages, $2.00 to $3.00 per day, 
mostly in piece work. 

Coopers. — Thoroughly organized. Average 
wages, $2.85 to $4.00 per day. Hours of labor, 
eight hours per day. 

Bridge and Structural Iron Workers. — Organ- 
ized 100 per cent. Hours of labor, eight. Wages, 
$3.50 to $4.50 per day. Plenty of work. Duties 
most hazardous. 

Boiler makers. — About 905 organized. Wages, 
$3.50 to $5.00 per day for union men; non-union 
men, scale lower. 

Marble Workers. — Thoroughly organized. 
Wages, $4.00 to $6.00 per day. Work eight hours 
a day. 

Journeyman Barbers. — Both white and negroes 
organized. Conditions above the average. No 
Sunday work. 

Elevator Constructors. — Thoroughly organized. 
All employed at present. No Sunday work. Wages 
$4.00 per day. 

Pattern IVIakers. — Well organized. Work nine 
hours a day. Wages 50 cents per hour. 

Garment Workers. — This is the only organized 



150 A Thumb-Nail History of 

craft of women workers. ]\Iembership about 200 
strong. Work, eight houi*s a day. Wages, $9.00 
to $18.00 per week. No Sunday labor. Sanitary 
conditions exceptionally good. 

Horseshoers. — Organized about 75 per cent. 
Wages, $2.50 to $3.50 per day. Work eight hours 
a day. 

Stationary Engineers. — Organized about 805. 
Average wages about $3.00 to $4.00 per day. 

Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers. — Or- 
ganized about 80 per cent. Work eight hours per 
day. Wages, $3.50 to $4.00 per day. 

Plumbers. — Thoroughly organized. Work eight 
hours a day. Wages $6.00. The union has many 
educational features to perfect the skill of its mem- 
bers. 



CHAPTER TEX. 

The Houston Cotton Exchange and Board of 
Trade — Sonw Houston Cotton Compresses — 
The Houston Chamber of Commerce — Hous- 
ton's Large Manufacturing and Bu-siness Con- 
cerns. 

Commercial Bodies. 

Unquestionably the first commercial organiza- 
tion in Texas was the old Chamber of Commerce 
organized in Houston April 5, 1840, with Mr. Per- 
kins as president. Unfortunately this association 
has left nothing but a name, for there is no record 
of work done by it, though it is fair to presume that 
it accomplished some of the objects for which it 
was formed. 

Not for thirty-four years was another attempt 
made to form a commercial body in this city. On 
May 16, 1874, a number of the prominent business 
men of Houston met in one of the parlors of the 
Hutchins House and organized the Houston Board 
of Trade and Cotton Exchange. Mr. C. S. Long- 
cope was elected president, Mr. Wm. J. Hutchins, 
vice-president and ^Ir. George W. Kidd, secretar^^ 

The new organization went actively to work. Per- 
kins Hall, used also as a theatre at times, was 
leased; Mr. Kidd purchased some small blackboards 
and with no other furniture or fixings, the Ex- 
change was officially declared open and ready for 
business. At that time telegraph tolls were very 



152 A Thumb-Nail History of 

high, in fact they were prohibitive so far as the new 
exchange was concerned and the amount of com- 
mercial news and quotations received by the ex- 
change in a full working day was about equal to 
that now received in a few minutes, even on dull 
days. Mr. Kidd helped out the quotations by using 
the scant commercial report received by the Hous- 
ton Telegraph, of which paper he was also com- 
mercial editor. 

Conditions such as these prevailed for the first 
three years of the exchange's existence, or until 
1877. In that year the business men appear to have 
recognized the great values of the exchange and to 
have rallied to its support. Something like a reor- 
ganization took place within the exchange. A new 
charter was obtained and the name of the organiza- 
tion was changed to the Houston Cotton Exchange 
and Board of Trade. New rules and regulations 
were adopted, the initiation fee was increased and 
provision was made for a regular and permanent 
income through fees and dues, for the support of 
the exchange. From that moment the course of 
the exchange has been upward, until today no com- 
mercial body in the South stands higher in every 
way than the Houston Cotton Exchange and 
Board of Trade. 

Not content with caring for and regulating the 
large and constantly growing cotton business of 
Houston, the exchange was always found in the 
front ranks of those working for the good and ad- 
vancement of the city. For a number of years the 



The City of Houston^ Texas 153 

exchange has had among its standing committees 
one whose special duty it is to look after the welfare 
of the ship channel. When the present efficient 
Chamber of Commerce was formed, the Cotton 
Exchange turned over to the new organization an 
immense amount of work, that before that was be- 
ing looked after by the exchange. It retained its 
interest in the ship channel, however, and while 
working in perfect harmony with the Chamber of 
Commerce and all other Houston organizations is 
still found working most zealously. 

In 1883 the members of the exchange deter- 
mined to build a home of their own. Ground was 
purchased, plans adopted and on November 15, 
1884, the new building was turned over to the ex- 
change by the contractors. It was a very handsome, 
though small, building and answered every pur- 
pose for which it had been constructed for many 
years. In later years it was remodeled. Additional 
stories were added and today the exchange build- 
mg is one of the most attractive and valuable build- 
ings in the city. 

There is no Cotton Exchange in the South more 
prosperous than the Houston exchange. When it 
was first organized a membership cost only $1 a 
month or $12 a year. Now a certificate of mem- 
bership costs $2,000 and it is difficult to secure one 
at even that price. The annual dues on each certif- 
icate are $50, while provision is made for fees and 
other dues for the maintainance of the exchange. 



154 A Thumb-Nail History of 

The following gentlemen have served as presi- 
dents of the exchange since its organization: 

C. S. Longcope 1874-75 

Wm. D. Cleveland 1875-76 

George L. Porter 1876-77 

H. R. Percy 1877-78 

S. K. Mcllhenny 1878-79 

Wm. V. R. Watson 1879-80 

A. H. Lea 1880-81 

S. K. Mclllienny 1881-82 

S. A. McAshan 1882-84 

Wm. D. Cleveland 1884-91 

Wm. Read 1891-92 

H. W. Garrow 1892-1902 

W. D. Cleveland 1902-05 

W. E. Andrews 1905-06 

W. O. Ansley 1906-07 

E. W. Taylor 1907-08 

A. L. Nelms 1908-12 

Mr. George W. Kidd, the first secretary of the 
exchange, served actively until 1898 when he be- 
came secretary emeritus. He was succeeded by 
Mr. B. W. Martin who resigned to accept a more 
lucrative position and was succeeded in turn by Mr. 
B. R. Warner. Mr. Warner after serving from 
1899 to 1903 resigned to return to newspaper work 
in New Orleans. In 1904 Mr. W. J. DeTreville 
was elected secretary and served until June, 1910, 
when, on his death, Mr. J. F. Burwell, the present 
efficient secretary was elected. 

With its immense lumber, oil, rice and manufac- 



The City of Houston^ Texas 155 

turing interests Houston long ago passed that point 
in its progress where its prosperity depended on any 
single commodity or industry. Like other commer- 
cial centers Houston for some years counted heav- 
ily on its cotton receipts for its prosperity, but does 
so no longer. The Houston merchants are not in- 
different to the great value of the cotton business, 
however, and they are anxious to get all of it pos- 
sible, and with the object of doing so, they have left 
nothing undone to make this the most attractive 
market and concentrating point in the South. They 
have constructed large compresses and cotton ware- 
houses and now have some of the largest and most 
conveniently situated buildings of that kind on this 
continent. 

The great fire which occuiTcd in the Fifth Ward 
early this year destroyed three of Houston's fine 
compresses, but there are three large ones left and 
two are being constructed on so great a scale that 
when completed in time to handle the coming crop, 
Houston will have the finest facilities for handling 
and caring for cotton in the South. 

The presses destroyed were the Cleveland, the 
Standard and the Southern, their combined capacity 
of presses being 3,000 bales daily and their storage 
capacity about 100,000 bales. The Cleveland and 
the Merchants have combined and plans are now be- 
ing perfected for the erection of the finest and 
largest compress and warehouse in the world. The 
storage capacity will be limited only by the re- 
strictions of the insurance companies, which ccmi- 



156 A Thumb-Nail History of 

panics are unwilling to insure so great an amount of 
cotton as the company could care for, but for these 
restrictions. It is certain that the storage capacity 
of the new press will not be less than 300,000 
bales. The company owns something like seventy 
acres of land on the ship channel and therefore will 
not be restricted by want of space. Captain W. D. 
Cleveland is the head of the new company. 

Houston already has in the Magnolia Warehouse 
and Storage Company one of the best equipped, 
largest and most powerful presses in the country. 
Every compress and warehouse in Houston is lo- 
cated either on the banks of the bayou or on a rail- 
road and all of them have rail connection. The re- 
sult is that drayage, a costly feature in handling cot- 
ton, is entirely eliminated and the business is con- 
ducted economically and expeditiously. Last sea- 
son there were shipped down the bayou about 400,- 
000 bales of cotton. As each bale represented a 
saving to the owner of 12 1-2 cents because there 
was no drayage, it is evident that the shipments rep- 
resented about $50,000 saving. No other cotton 
market in the world can or does do business so 
cheaply. 

The history of Houston's cotton business is of 
more than passing interest since in its entirety it 
represents every phase of the evolution of the 
world's cotton trade. As already noted in these 
pages, in the early days all cotton raised in the State 
was brought here by ox -wagons for marketing. 
The Houston merchants bought the cotton both 



The City of Houston, Texas 157 

with cash and groceries and goods. It was a most 
satisfactory method of doing business and both the 
farmer and merchant profited by the transaction. 
After the merchant had accumulated a sufficient 
number of bales to warrant his doing so he shipped 
the cotton down the bayou to Galveston to be 
placed on chartered vessels, to be shipped to Liver- 
pool or other foreign markets. Since there was no 
way of knowing how prices were ruling in the for- 
eign markets, the merchant guarded against pos- 
sible loss by discounting his last information ma- 
terially and paying from seven to ten dollars per 
bale less for the cotton than he estimated it to be 
worth. This was fair since there was always serious 
danger of a heavy decline in prices before the cot- 
ton could arrive on the other side. After the rail- 
roads were built in Texas, Galveston became the 
great cotton market of the State and every bale 
raised in Texas was shipped there. One thing that 
helped build up Galveston was the fact that there 
were no such things as through bills of lading and 
rail rates favored the port. In 1874 J. H. Blake & 
Co. established their firm in Houston and soon 
evolved a plan for overcoming the disadvantages 
under which Houston was placed. By an arrange- 
ment made with the Houston & Texas Central and 
the International Railroads this firm was enabled 
to buy cotton in the interior, bring it to Houston and 
then ship it out again either by rail or by water. 
Under this arrangement ]SIessrs. Blake & Co. made 
the first shipment of cotton from an interior point 



158 A Thumb-Nail History of 

to a foregin market on a through bill of lading in 
1874. This was the first shipment of the kind ever 
made. That method of doing business soon placed 
Houston, if not on an equal footing, at least on 
nearly such with Galveston and saved this market 
from utter extinction. 

Then the system of buying and selling future con- 
tracts was established. This was perhaps the great- 
est advance that could possibly have been made to- 
wards stabihty of the cotton market, and the es- 
tablishment of something like uniform prices all 
over the world. The system was not complicated 
but was very simple. Cotton was purchased on 
this side only when prices in Liverpool were favor- 
able for such purchases. The cost of freight, in- 
surance, commission and other charges were added 
to the price paid for the cotton and then, if Liver- 
pool prices were sufficiently high to warrant doing 
so the cotton was bought and future contracts sold 
in Liverpool by cable. In that way every possible 
chance of loss was eliminated from the transaction, 
for when the cotton arrived on the other side the 
future contract was closed out, the difference in 
the price of the contract and the price of the actual 
cotton equalling each other. 

The next great change that took place was more 
radical and f arreaching. In their effort to do away 
with middle-men, the spinners on the other side 
established buying agencies of their own on this 
side. These, in turn, established sub-agencies all 
over the country, so that the producer of cotton in- 



The City of Houston^ Texas 159 

stead of having to seek a market, found one right 
at his door. There was such competition between 
the buyers that the highest prices possible were paid 
in order to get the cotton. Every cross road and 
httle town in the State became a center of informa- 
tion about prices and the farmer could learn every 
morning the quotation of that day both in American 
and foreign markets. 

It soon became evident that it would be necessary 
to provide some place where large quantities of cot- 
ton could be concentrated for inspection, classifica- 
tion and arranging for final shipment. The Hous- 
ton cotton men realized that a most radical change 
in the method of marketing cotton was about to 
take place and they began at once to prepare them- 
selves to care for this concentrated cotton. Old 
warehouses and compresses were enlarged and new 
ones erected. The storing capacity of the city was 
materially increased and when the work was fin- 
ished Houston was most thoroughly equipped to 
meet all demands that could be made on her. An- 
other thing that was done, which shows the great 
forethought of the Houston merchants, was re- 
ducing all local charges to the lowest point possible. 
No attempt was made to make money directly 
from the compresses and warehouses, as such, but 
these were used very much as so much capital, to 
attract and keep the cotton business here. It is 
a fact that can not be disputed that today Houston's 
local charges on a bale of cotton are from 25 cents 
to 30 cents per bale cheaper than are those in any 



160 A Thumb-Nail History of 

other cotton market in the South. Now when to 
this saving in local charges is added the further 
saving of from 10 cents to 12 cents through the 
absence of drayage, it is readily seen why so much 
cotton is shipped here and why Houston stands so 
prominently forward as a great cotton market. 

Mention has been made of the Chamber of Com- 
merce that was organized in Houston in 1840, but 
the present magnificent body of that name has 
no direct nor indirect connection with that early 
body. The Chamber of Commerce of today is for 
today and looks more to future accomplishments 
than to traditions of the past. 

The immediate forerunner of the Chamber of 
Commerce was the Houston Business League, 
which was organized in 1895 by about forty gentle- 
men who had for their object the formation of an 
association to look after the best interests of Hous- 
ton. Col. R. JM. Johnston, editor of the Houston 
Post, and Mr. W. W. Dexter, at present editor 
and proprietor of the Bankers' Journal, were prime 
movers in the organization and did much to insure 
its success. The constitution adopted declared 
the following to be the object of the association: 

"The object of the Houston Business League is 
to promote immigration, to create and extend 
and foster the trade, commerce and manufactur- 
ing interests of Houston; to secure and build up 
transportation lines; to secure reasonable and equi- 
table transportation rates; to build up and main- 
tain the value of our real estate, progressive, ef- 




111! II"" 

riiiiJi II H I 

1 




rr 



ttit 



{' -III!,, 




SOUTHERN PACIFIC OFFICES 



The City of Houston, Texas 161 

ficient and economical administration of our mu- 
nicipal government, to collect, preserve and dis- 
seminate information in relation to our commer- 
cial, financial and industrial affairs and to unite, 
as far as possible, our people in one respresentative 
body." 

The following gentlemen were chosen as the first 
officers of the new organization: J. ]M. Cotton, 
president; Ed Kiam, first vice president; J. C. 
Bering, second vice president; E. T. Heiner, third 
vice president; W. W. Dexter, secretary; Guy H. 
Harcourt, treasurer. 

After serving for only a short time, Secretary 
Dexter resigned and Mr. George P. Brown was 
chosen as his successor. The election of JSIr. Brown 
was a most fortunate thing for the Business 
League, since he brought to its service splendid 
executive and administrative talent and a wonder- 
ful amount of energy and zeal. Under Mr. Brown's 
administration the Business League forged rapidly 
to the front, A large number of manufacturing 
and industrial plants were secured for Houston, the 
Floral Festival and No-Tsu-Oh associations were 
formed and the name of the city was placed perma- 
nently on the map of the country. 

In 1910 the Business League was enlarged and 
practically a reorganization took place. The name 
Business League was dropped and the organiza- 
tion became the Houston Chamber of Commerce. 
Mr. Adoph Boldt was secretary at the time and it 
was largely due to him that the scope of the asso- 



162 A Thumb-Nail History of 

ciation's objects and energy were enlarged. He 
recognized the magnitude of the field and the 
Chamber of Commerce was organized to fill every 
part of it. In the Chamber of Commerce there is 
a general association, but all the details of practical 
work are in the hands of special committees who 
have absolute authority and freedom of action, be- 
ing responsible only to the general association. 
These conmiittees are called bureaus. There is, for 
instance, the Traffic Bureau, to which is referred 
all matters relating to freight rates, rate discrimi- 
nations and questions of that kind. There is a 
Convention Bureau which looks after securing con- 
ventions to meet in Houston and looks after the en- 
tertainment of strangers who come to such conven- 
tions. There is a Publicity Bureau, an Industrial 
Bureau, which looks after securing manufacturing 
and industrial concerns for Houston, and a num- 
ber of other, no less important bureaus. It will 
be seen from this how thoroughly organized the 
Chamber of Commerce is. One of the most pleas- 
ing features connected with the organization is the 
perfect harmony that exists between it and other 
organizations working either directly or indirectly 
towards accomplishing the same ends. The citizens 
attest their faith in the Chamber of Commerce by 
giving it the most loyal support, and it is today one 
of the strongest and most efficient organizations 
of its kind in the South. Its officers are : Adolph 
Boldt, secretary; C. G. Roussel, assistant secretary; 
C. C. Oden, traffic manager; Jerome H. Farbar, 



The City of Houston, Texas 163 

director of publicity. There are of course a great 
many business men heads of committees and good 
workers too, but the gentlemen named are the real 
workers and the ones who accomplish things. 

The average citizen does not know how much 
good has been accomplished for Houston by the 
Chamber of Commerce, nor how much good is being 
planned for the future. It is a working body and it 
does not confine its labors to union hours, of an 
eight hour day, but puts in every waking hour of 
the entire twenty-four. A vast amount of valuable 
information has been collected, and preserved in 
such form as to be immediatey available. 

Houston is today the home of vast commercial 
and manufacturing enterprises, most of them hav- 
ing come here during the last six or eight years. It 
is, for instance, the largest lumber market in the 
Southwest and one of the largest in the world. 
That does not mean that there are extensive mills 
and manufacturing plants here, but it does mean 
that about all the lumber made in Texas is con- 
trolled and handled by Houston firms, which are 
the greatest in the South. There are over 250 
great sawmills in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas 
controlled and represented through offices located 
here. 

The following are the big Houston firms with the 
capacity of their plants: 

Kirby Lumber Company, manufacturers, 400,- 
000,000 feet. 



164 A Thumb-Nail History of 

Long-Bell Lumber Company, manufacturers, 
500,000,000 feet. 

West Lumber Company, manufacturers, 175,- 
000,000 feet. 

W. H. Norris Lumber Company, wholesalers, 
100,000,000 feet. 

Vaughan Lumber Company, wholesalers, 100,- 
000,000 feet. 

Continental Lumber and Tie Company, whole- 
salers, 100,000,000 feet. 

Trinity River Lumber Company, manufacturers, 
60,000,000 feet. 

Central Coal and Coke Company, manufacturers, 
50,000,000 feet. 

W. T. Carter & Brother, manufacturers, 50,- 
000,000 feet. 

Cai-ter Lumber Company, manufacturers, 40,- 
000,000 feet. 

W. R. Pickering Lumber Company, manufac- 
turers, 50,000,000 feet. 

Sabine Lumber Company, manufacturers, 40,- 
000,000 feet. 

Ray & Mihils, wholesalers, 40,000,000 feet. 

Carter-Kelly Lumber Company, manufacturers, 
30,000,000 feet. 

Big Tree Lumber Company, manufacturers and 
wholesalers, 30,000,000 feet. 

C. R. Cummings & Co., manufacturers, 25,000,- 
000 feet. 

J. S. and W. M. Rice, manufacturers, 25,000,000 
feet. 4 



The City of Houston, Texas 165 

Gebhart-Williams-Fenet, manufacturers, 25,- 
000,000 feet. 

Bland & Fisher, manufacturers, 25,000,000 feet. 

J. C. Hill Lumber Company, manufacturers, 
20,000,000 feet. 

L. B. Manefee Lumber Company, manufactur- 
ers, 20,000,000 feet. 

R. W. Wier Lumber Company, manufacturers, 
20,000,000 feet. 

Alf. Bennett Lumber Company, manufacturers 
and wholesalers, 20,000,000 feet. 

R. C. Miller Lumber Company, manufacturers, 
20,000,000 feet. 

Bush Brothers, manufacturers, 15,000,000 feet. 

Southern Pinery Tie and Lumber Company, 
manufacturers and wholesalers, 10,000,000 feet. 

The foregoing foot up within a fraction of two 
billion feet of lumber annually controlled by Hous- 
ton firms. 

Houston is the recognized center of all that re- 
lates to handling refining, exporting and financing 
the output of the Texas oil fields and is rapidly 
assuming the same relation to the oil fields of Okla- 
homa. An idea of the importance of Houston in 
this respect may be formed from the statement that 
there are five large oil refineries here, thirteeen oil 
dealers and thirty-nine producers and exporters, 
twenty -three of the latter being large concerns and 
that Houston has the largest independent oil com- 
pany in the United States, the Texas Company, 
with a capital of $36,000,000. Pipe lines from 



166 A Thumb-Nail History of 

all the Texas fields and from Oklahoma converge 
at Houston and additional lines, to cost something 
like $7,000,000, are being constructed. 

Houston naturally holds first place as a rice 
market, since it has every advantage. Aside from 
the physical aspect there is something of a senti- 
mental side to the question, for it was a Houston 
man who first pointed out the possibilities of rice 
culture and who actually took steps to develop it. 
The late J. R. Morris, as early as the middle seven- 
ties, organized a company and took out a charter, 
the object being to cultivate rice in all that territory 
lying between Houston and the San Jacinto river. 
He had a survey made which resulted in demon- 
strating that Houston is about twenty-eight feet 
lower than some near point on the San Jacinto river 
from which he proposed to start his canal. He 
wanted to deflect the water from the river and use 
it in irrigating the prairie lands and also to utilize 
the surplus in running machinery at the mouth of 
White Oak Bayou, at the foot of Main street. For 
some reason nothing was ever done by Mr. Morris 
and his associates, but attention was drawn to the 
possibilities of rice culture, which has resulted in 
its becoming one of the large and rapidly grow- 
ing industries of Texas. At the time of Mr. ^lor- 
ris' death it is doubtful if there was as much as an 
acre of ground in Texas devoted to the cultivation 
of rice. Today rice holds third place in point of 
importance among the crops of the State. Harris 
county alone has 30,000 acres, while there are 253,- 



The City of Houston, Texas 167 

560 acres in all, of which about 200,000 acres are 
tributary to Houston. 

Houston has five rice mills with a daily capacity 
of 7,600 bags, while the capacity of all the mills in 
the State is 25,200 bags. The annual production 
averages about two and a quarter million bags, 
Houston handling about three-fourths of it. 

Including the railroad shop workers there are sev- 
eral thousand wage-earners in Houston employed 
all the year round to whom is paid something like 
.^^8,500,000 annually. This is not for one year, but 
is for every year and therefore it is not surprising 
that Houston should be known as the best retail 
town in Texas. There are over twelve hundred re- 
tail dealers who, according to an estimate made by 
the Chamber of Commerce, based on almost com- 
plete returns, do an annual business of $55,000,000. 

The wholesale business of Houston is very great, 
estimated by the Chamber of Commerce at $90,- 
000,000 annually. The leading articles and the 
amount of business done in each are as follows: 
•Machinery, $3,000,000; hardware, $4,000,000; 
lumber, $35,000,000; petroleum products, $1,000,- 
000; drugs and chemicals, $4,000,000; paints and 
glass, $1,000,000; furniture, $1,400,000; dry goods, 
$1,750,000; liquors, $1,250,000; beer and ice, $2,- 
500,000; groceries, $8,000,000; produce, $4,600,- 
000; sugar and molasses, $2,000,000; tobacco, $1,- 
250,000; packing house products, $3,750,000. 
When to these is added the business done in build- 
ing material, paving material, electrical supplies 



168 A Thumb-Nail History of 

and other things, it becomes apparent that the esti- 
mate of $90,000,000 must be under rather than 
above the actual figures. 

Not counting the railroads, trust companies and 
banks, there are 376 incorporated companies doing 
business in Houston, the combined capital of which 
is $145,943,900. There are, of course, thousands 
of individuals and numerous unincorporated com- 
panies doing business in addition to these, which 
shows the magnitude of Houston as a trade center. 

In the early days the Houston merchants and 
property owners who wished to insure against fire 
loss were compelled to send to New Orleans for 
their policies, for there were no local insurance 
agents here. These conditions prevailed until 1858, 
when Mr. John Dickinson established the first 
agency in Houston, he representing a New Or- 
leans firm. Just about the time Mr. Dickinson got 
his office working satisfactorily and began doing a 
lucrative business, the war broke out and knocked 
his business into a cocked hat. 

In 1868 the first local insurance company was or- 
ganized in Houston. This was the Planters' Fire 
Insurance Company, which did a good business un- 
til 1880, when a disastrous cotton fire occurred, 
causing such heavy losses to the company that it 
went into voluntary liquidation. 

In 1895 the Houston Fire and Marine Insurance 
Company was organized. This company did a 
good business for several years, but through the in- 
nocent purchase of a lot of bogus bonds, it was 



The City of Houston, Texas 169 

forced to suspend and go out of business a few 
years ago. 

The Guarantee Life Insurance Company was the 
first life insurance company organized in Houston. 
It was organized in 1906 with a capital stock of 
$100,000 and prospered from the ver\^ beginning. 
It does an immense business and has over $13,000,- 
000 insurance in force. The officers of the Guar- 
antee are: Jonathan Lane, president; John H. 
Thompson, vice president and Charles Boedeker, 
secretarj'^ -treasurer. 

The Great Southern Life Insurance Company 
is, in some respects, a wonderful organization. It 
was organized in 1909 and though it is less than 
three years old, it has done and is still doing, an 
immense business. It has a capital of $500,000 and 
a surplus of $500,000 and outstanding insurance of 
over ten million dollars. Among its poHcy holders 
is one who is insured for $100,000, the largest policy 
ever written in Texas for one person. The officers 
of the Great Southern are: J. S. Rice, president; 
O. S. Carlton, C. G. PiUot, J. S. Cullinan and P. 
H. McFadden of Beaumont, vice presidents ; J. T. 
Scott, treasurer and Louis St. J. Thomas, secre- 
tary. 



CHAPTER ELEVEN. 

The First Telegraph Line in Texas — Two Vet- 
eran Operators — First Telephones — The Wire- 
less Telegraph Companies — Organization of the 
First Electric Light Company. 

The Houston Telegraph of March 18, 1853, 
mentions the fact that some of the material for the 
telegraph line betwen Houston and Galveston had 
been received at the latter place. At that time the 
land part of the line had been constructed, but the 
two-mile stretch across the bay at Virginia Point 
was causing a great deal of trouble. Modern sub- 
marine cables were unknown at that time and many 
substitutes for them were suggested and tried. 
Finally the difficulty was overcome by using ordi- 
nary iron wire covered with gutta percha, which 
was warranted by its maker to last for one year and 
which cost $350 per mile. But before the problem 
was solved, the land part of the line grew old and 
fell down, so that it was not until 1858 that an act- 
ual working line was constructed between the two 
cities, this being the first telegraph line constructed 
in Texas. It was not a great financial undertaking, 
since the cost of the entire fifty miles including the 
two miles of bay, was only $6,200, of which the 
Houston people contributed $3,000. 

Having constructed the Galveston-Houston line 
successfully, the owners formed a company called 
the Star State Telegraph Company and built a 
Ime along the Texas and New Orleans railroad 



The City of Houston^ Texas 171 

\N hich was being constructed about that time. When 
the war occurred the company had its line completed 
to Orange in East Texas. As an item of interest 
it may be stated here that when the Texas ports 
were blockaded during the war it was almost im- 
2)ossible to get sulpuric acid with which the batteries 
of those days were operated, and that telegraphing 
would have been impossible had not some genius 
found that the acid water from Sour Lake made 
an admirable substitute for sulphuric acid. The 
telegraph batteries were charged with Sour Lake 
water and all difficulty disappeared. 

Soon after the close of the war, the Star State 
C'ompany was absorbed by the Southwestern Tele- 
graph Company which then covered most of the 
Southern States. Mr. D. P. Shepherd, who is 
possibly the oldest telegraph operator in this coun- 
try, and of whom it is said that he was the first op- 
erator in the world to take a message by ear, was 
placed in charge of the new telegraph company with 
headquarters in Houston. 

In 1867 the Southwestern was absorbed by the 
Western Union Telegraph Company, the latter 
company thus gaining control of all the telegraph 
lines in the United States. The Western Union 
remained master of the field until late in 1910, 
when it, in turn, was absorbed by the Southwestern 
Telegraph and Telephone Company, the largest 
corporation of its kind in the world. 

The first manager of the Western Union in 
Houston was Mr. Merrit Harris, who died during 



172 A Thumb-Nail History of 

the great yellow fever epidemic of 1867 and was 
succeeded by Col. Phil Fall, who has the distinction 
of being the oldest operator in actual service in this 
country. 

The Postal Telegraph Company opened its of- 
fice in Houston during July, 1898. The establish- 
ment was merely on a small scale, but by strict at- 
tention to business has managed to build up an im- 
mense business and has made itself a formidable 
competitor of the Southwestern Telegraph and Tel- 
ephone Company in the local field. The Postal 
aims at promptness and dispatch, and has thus 
earned an enviable reputation. 

In the latter part of 1910 the Mackey Telegraph 
and Cable Company established its chief office in 
Houston, thus making Houston the great telegraph 
center of the State. All the companies have direct 
cable connection with all parts of the world, but 
the Mackey company has facilities possessed by no 
other company. The cable business out of Houston 
is immense and the general telegraphing done by 
all the Houston lines, amounts to very near four 
million messages each year and is constantly in- 
creasing. 

The Houston Telegram of June 18, 1878, says: 
"Mr. J. W. Stacey, the efficient manager of the 
Western Union Telegraph office in this city, has 
procured a telephone of the latest improved con- 
struction, which he will put up for use during the 
mihtary encampment of the volunteeers of the State 
next week. The line will run from the Fair G rounds 



The City of Houston, Texas 173 

to Mr. G. W. Baldwin's library room in the Tele- 
gram building and everybody wishing to have the 
pleasure of conversing with a friend a mile distant 
will have an opportunity. Our friends from the 
country and many in the city who are skeptical about 
the truthful working of the wonderful instrument, 
will have an opportunity to test it to their satisfac- 
tion. To many of them it will be quite a curiosity, 
and we expect to see its capacity fully tried. ]Mr. 
Stacey will make a trial test today and will have the 
apparatus in perfect working order by the end of 
the week." 

During the fall of the same year, Mr. Pendarvis, 
who was telegraph operator for the Morgan Trans- 
portation Company, connected his office in Hous- 
ton with the office in Clinton, ten miles away and 
for a time had direct telephone connection between 
the two. Commenting on this innovation the Hous- 
ton Telegram stated that unquestionably when the 
great convenience of the telephone was appreci- 
ated they would be installed in railroad depots, bus- 
iness houses and, perhaps, residences. This predic- 
tion has come true in a much greater degree than the 
Telegram supposed possible. 

It was not until 1880 that a telephone exchange 
was established in Houston. Two years later Mr. 
G. W. Foster took charge of the exchange and it 
was largely through his efforts and the hearty and 
valuable assistance of his wife that the telephone 
business in Texas attained such huge proportions in 
so short a time. Mr. Foster is still an active man 



174 A Thumb-Nail History of 

in the company and fills one of the higher offices. 

The local company has just completed its own 
skyscraper at a cost of about $1,000,000, and has 
equipments for caring for 20,000 subscribers with- 
out making further additions to its plant. 

Houston's long distance telephone system is 
very complete, there being twelve circuits to Gal- 
veston, seven to Beaumont, three to San Antonio, 
three to Dallas and one each to Fort Worth and 
Corpus Christi. Each of these direct circuits has 
branch circuits reaching all parts of the State. 

In addition to the old telephone company there 
is an automatic telephone company also operating 
in Houston. This company owns its own home, 
an elegant building on Rusk avenue near the Fed- 
eral building. 

There are two wireless telegraph companies oper- 
ating in Houston. One is a strictly private affair 
owned by the Texas Company. This company has 
2,700 miles of private wires in Texas, Oklahoma 
and Kansas. It uses these wires for business pur- 
poses, but keeps its wireless plant always in readi- 
ness for use in case of failure of its wires. The 
company owns similar outfits at Beaumont and in 
Oklahoma. 

The other company, the Texas Wireless 
Telegraph-Telephone, is the only one engaged in 
public and commercial business. The company has 
perfectly equipped stations at Houston, San An- 
tonio, Victoria, Fredericksburg, Waco and Fort 
Worth. It is distinctly a home company, for all of 



The City of Houston, Texas 175 

its stock is owned by Texans while its officers and 
managers are all Texans. 

The Houston Electric Light Company was or- 
ganized in 1882, by Mr, E. Raphael. Its first of- 
ficers were: E. Raphael, president; D. F. Stuart, 
secretary. The board of trustees were: A. Grose- 
beck, B. A. Botts, F. A. Rice, E. P. Hill, D. F. 
Stuart, J. C. Hutcherson, G. L. Porter and E. 
Raphael. Only the old Brush carbon light was 
used. Mr. Raphael exhibited the first incandes- 
cent lamp ever seen in Houston in August, 1883. 
The great merit of the incandescent lamp was rec- 
ognized at once and Mr. Raphael secured a contract 
to equip the Howard Oil Mill plant with them. This 
was the first installation of incandescent electric 
lights in a building in Texas. Mr. Raphael and 
his associates conducted the business for a year or 
so and then sold their plant to the Houston Gas 
Company. That company organized the present 
electric light company in 1894. 



CHAPTER TWELVE. 

The Rice Institute — Brief Sketch of 3Ir. Rice — 
Organization of the Great Educational Center. 

Among the very early settlers in the new town of 
Houston was Mr. Wm. M. Rice, who was destined 
to impress his name indelibly on this, his adopted 
home. Mr. Rice was a remarkable man. He be- 
gan his mercantile life in a modest way, but by 
strict attention to every detail of his business he 
was soon able to extend his field of operation. His 
success was assured from the beginning, and, having 
the money making instinct, or faculty, largely de- 
veloped, he soon became one of the best known and 
most prosperous merchants of the city. Much has 
been said and written about him. Some things 
absolutely true and some largely imaginative. 
Those who knew him are aware of the fact that he 
would not have appreciated some of the latter. Mr. 
Rice was intensely practical, and cared httle for the 
applause of the crowd. He was a successful mer- 
chant, a king of finance and nothing more. He was 
absolutely honest and just, and what was more to 
the point, he was as just to himself as he was to 
others. If he made a contract he carried out every 
detail and he required those who made the other 
side to do the same. If he owed money he paid 
every cent of the debt and those who owed him 
money were required to settle in full. He was 
merely an ordinary merchant and business man, 
though a remarkably successful one. 



I 



The City of Houston, Texas 177 

Had the early friends and associates of Mr. Rice 
been asked to select one of their number who would 
make a princely donation towards the cause of edu- 
cation, the chances are ten to one that Mr. Rice 
would never have been selected. If he ever gave a 
thought to art, science or literature no one knew 
of it. The first intimation that he took the least 
interest in educational matters was given some time 
during the middle eighties when the city was en- 
deavoring to raise money to purchase what was 
known as Academy Square and the old building 
that stood on it, for the purpose of turning it into 
ii high school. The property had been owned by a 
company but had passed into the hands of a private 
citizen and the city wanted to buy it. JNIr. Rice was 
living in New York at the time, but was paying an 
annual visit to Houston when the purchase matter 
came up. Mr. E. Raphael, who was very close to 
Mr. Rice, and who looked after some of his Hous- 
ton interests for him, was requested by a committee 
of citizens to ask Mr. Rice for a subscription to the 
fund. Mr. Raphael did so and was met by a 
prompt refusal, ^Ir. Rice stating that it was the 
duty of the city and not of individuals to care for 
such things as public schools. Then he surprised 
^Ir. Raphael by telling him that he was thinking of 
a plan by which he hoped to establish a great edu- 
cational institution here. A few months later he 
took into his confidence a few gentlemen and, 
after a thorough discussion of his plans, an organi- 
zation was formed and, in 1891, a charter was ap- 



178 A Thumb-Nail History of 

plied for and granted. The terms of the charter 
were most liberal and the trustees were given wide 
latitude for the future organization of a great non- 
political, non-sectarian institution of technical learn- 
ing to be dedicated to the advancement of letters, 
science and art, to be located in the adopted home 
of Mr. Rice. As a nucleus for the endowment 
fund, Mr. Rice placed in the hands of the trustees 
an interest bearing note for $200,000. 

The original trustees were the following named 
gentlemen: Mr. Rice, himself; his brother, Mr. F. 
A. Rice, Mr. A. S. Richardson, Mr. James A. Ba- 
ker, Mr. J. E. McAshan, Mr. E. Raphael and Mr. 
C. M. Lombardi. Under the terms of the charter 
this board is made self-perpetuating and its mem- 
bers are elected for hfe. Since its organization 
vacancies have been filled by the selection of the 
following: INlr. Wm. M. Rice, Jr., a nephew of Mr. 
Rice, Mr. B. B. Rice and Dr. E. O. Lovett. 

Having taken the first step, Mr. Rice became 
infatuated with the idea he had conceived, and from 
time to time, transferred to the trustees large in- 
terests and then, by his will, left the bulk of his 
large fortune to the institute. 

IMr. Rice was murdered in New York in 1900 
and there was a long fight in court over his will. 

When the trustees finally came into possession 
of the full resources of the foundation, which now 
amount to approximately ten milHon dollars, they 
invited Dr. Edgar Odell Lovett, Professor in 
Princeton University, to assist them in formu- 



The City of Houston^ Texas 179 

lating and executing the educational programme 
of the Institute. The President thereupon under- 
took a year's journey of study which extended from 
England to Japan; on the completion of this pre- 
liminary investigation, a most suitable site of three 
hundred acres was secured, and to Messrs. Cram, 
Goodhue and Ferguson, of Boston, was committed 
the task of designing a general architectural plan 
consistent with the programme which had been 
adopted for the Institute. 

In 1911, on the seventy-fifth anniversary of 
Texan Independence, the corner-stone of the Ad- 
ministration Building was laid by the trustees. 
This building, together with the first wing of the 
Engineering Quadrangle, the Mechanical liubor- 
atory and Power House, and the first Residential 
Hall for Men, is rapidly nearing completion. The 
initial building schedule includes also special lab- 
oratories for instruction and investigation in phys- 
ics, chemistry, and biology, and in the application 
cf these sciences to the arts of industry and com- 
merce. In the preparation of these preliminary 
laboratory plans the Institute has enjoyed the co- 
operation of an advisory committee consisting of 
Professor Ames, director of the physical laboratory 
of Johns Hopkins University; Professor Conklin, 
director of the biological laboratory of Princeton 
University; Professor Richards, chairman of the 
department of chemistry. Harvard University; 
and Professor Stratton, director of the National 
Bureau of Standards. 



180 A Thumb-Nail History of 

The academic work of the Institute will begin 
this autumn on the 23rd day of September. A few 
days later the formal opening will be observed 
with appropriate ceremonies of inauguration and 
dedication, on October 10th, 11th, and 12th, 1912. 
Distinguished scholars and scientists from a num- 
ber of foreign seats of learning have consented to 
participate in the proceedings of this the Insti- 
tute's first academic festival by preparing lectures 
in the fundamental sciences of mathematics, phys- 
ics, chemistry, and biology, and in the liberal hu- 
manities of philosophy, history, letters, and art. 

The initial staff of the Institute will be or- 
ganized in a faculty of science and a faculty of 
letters. Of those who have been selected for posi- 
tions under the direction of the faculty of science it 
is possible to announce the following elections, the 
names appearing in alphabetical order: 

PhiHp Heckman Arbuckle, B. A. (Chicago), of 
Georgetown, Texas; Director of Athletics in 
Southwestern University; to be Instructor in Ath- 
letics. 

Percy John Daniell, M. A. (Cambridge), of 
Liverpool, England; Senior Wrangler and Ray- 
leigh Prizeman of the University of Cambridge; 
Lecturer in Mathematics at the University of 
Liverpool; to be Research Associate in Applied 
Mathematics. 

William Franklin Edwards, B. Sc. (Michi- 
gan), of Houston, Texas; formerly Instructor 
in the University of Michigan, and later Presi- 



The City of Houston, Texas 181 



dent of the University of Washington; to be Lec- 
turer in Chemistry. 

Griffith Conrad Evans, Ph. D. (Harvard), of 
Rome, Italy; Sheldon Fellow of Harvard Uni- 
versity; to be Assistant Professor of Pure Mathe- 
matics. 

Julian Sorrell Huxley, M. A. (Oxford), of Ox- 
ford, England; Newdigate Prizeman of the Uni- 
versity of Oxford; Lecturer in Biology at Bal- 
liol College, and Inter-collegiate Lecturer in Ox- 
ford University; to be Research Associate in Bi- 
ology. 

Francis Ellis Johnson, B. A., E. E. (Wiscon- 
sin), of Houston, Texas; recently with the Brit- 
ish Columbia Electric Railway Company; to be 
Instructor in Electrical Engineering. 

Edgar Odell Lovett, Ph. D. (Virginia and 
Leipsic) , LL. D. (Drake and Tulane) , of Hous- 
ton, Texas; formerly Professor of I^Iathematics 
in Prmceton University, and later Head of the 
Department of Astronomy in the same institu- 
tion; President of the Institute; to be Professor 
of ^lathematics. 

WiUiam Ward Watkin, B. Sc. (Pennsylvania), 
Architect, of Houston, Texas; to be Instructor in 
Architectural Engineering. 

Harold Albert Wilson, F. R. S., D. Sc. (Cam- 
bridge), of I^Iontreal, Canada; Fellow of Trinity 
College, Cambridge University; formerly Pro- 
fessor in King's College, London; Research Pro- 



182 A Thumb-Nail History of 

fessor in McGill University; to be Professor of 
Physics. 

There is being constituted a faculty of letters in 
which will be developed facilities for elementary 
and advanced courses in the so-called humanities, 
thereby enabling the Institute to offer both the ad- 
vantages of a liberal general education and those of 
special and professional training. For these facul- 
ties of science and letters the best available instruc- 
tors and investigators are being sought in the hope 
of assembling in Houston a group of unusually 
able scientists and scholars through whose pro- 
ductive work the new university should speedily 
take a place of considerable importance among the 
established institutions of the country. 

The subjects in which instruction will be pro- 
vided as rapidly as possible are mathematics, phys- 
ics, chemistry, biology, engineering, architecture, 
ancient languages, modern languages, history, 
and politics, philosophy and psychology, economics 
and sociology, and art and archeaeology. The pro- 
grammes of study are being so arranged as to of- 
fer a variety of courses leading after four years of 
undergraduate work to bachelor's degrees in arts, 
in science, in letters, and in their applications to 
the several fields of engineering, domestic arts, 
and other regions of applied science. Extensive 
general courses in the various domains of scientific 
knowledge will be available, but in the main the 
programmes will consist of subjects carefully co- 
ordinated and calling for considerable concentra- 



The City of Houston^ Texas 183 

tion of study. For the advanced degrees, IMaster 
of Arts, Doctor of Philosophy, and Doctor of En- 
gineering, every facility will be afforded properly 
qualified graduate students to undertake lines of 
study and research under the direction of the In- 
stitute's resident and visiting professors. 

Candidates for admission to the Institute who 
present satisfactory testimonials as to their charac- 
ter will be accepted either upon successful exam- 
ination in the entrance subjects or by certificate of 
graduation from an accredited public or private 
high school. 

There will be no charge for tuition and no fees 
for registration or examination in the Institute. A 
small deposit will be required to cover possible 
breakage in the laboratories and losses from the 
hbraries; the balance from this contingent fee is, 
of course, returnable at the close of the session. 

Rooms in the Residential Hall, for men, com- 
pletely furnished exclusive of linen, together with 
table board at the Institute Commons, will be 
available for from eighteen to twenty dollars 
per month of four weeks. For both single and 
double rooms the rental will be uniform without 
regard to their location, and they will be let in the 
order of applications received. Diagrams showing 
the floor plans will be sent on request to any one 
who may be interested. Accommodations for the 
residence of young women on the university 
grounds will not be offered during the coming 
year. The Residential Hall for Men is of absolute- 



184 A Thumb-Nail History of 

ly fire-proof construction, heated by steam, lighted 
by electricity, cleaned by vacuum apparatus, and 
equipped with the most approved forms of sanitary 
plumbing, providing adequate bathing facihties on 
every floor. 

The general plan for the improvement of the 
site of the Institute calls for a number of play- 
ing and exhibition fields in the vicinity of the resi- 
dential groups. In fact the wide expanse of the 
campus affords abundant space for every variety 
of physical exercise. A determined effort will be 
made to systematize and make general a sane de- 
votion to out-door sports in climatic conditions, 
which render athletics and open-air gymnastics 
profitably possible the whole year round. The 
daily time-table of each student will include a def- 
inite period under the instructor in athletics. Sim- 
ilarly with a view to developing every student in 
the manly art of self-defense in oratory and dispu- 
tation there have been appointed, in the South 
Tower of the first Residential Hall for INIen, halls 
for two literary and debating societies, whose activ- 
ities should supplement the work of certain chairs 
under the faculty of letters. 



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